Sky Art Online
by LaraCrofttheDragonborn
Summary: Thousands of gamers get trapped in Skyrim by Alduin the World-Eater. Only one player has the power to save them all- the legendary Dragonborn.
1. Welcome to Skyrim Online!

**CHAPTER ONE:** Welcome to Skyrim Online! (Or the day I almost got killed, but then saved, only to end up being almost killed again.)

It started simple enough. I bought an innocent-looking game, Skyrim. It was supposed to be the best game ever. Everyone's been talking about it for months, as it's the world's first virtual reality game. You just put on the helmet, and you are transported to the magical world of Skyrim. I drove home and dashed through the front door.

"Slow down! What's the hurry?" My mom asked as I ran through the kitchen to the den.

"I just got my game!" I explained as I opened the box and got out the helmet.

"Oh, is that the new game you've been talking about for so long?" Mother asked.

"Yeah."

I took all of the plastic off the helmet and admired its shininess.

"You had better let your brother play that too," My mom warned.

"No way," I argued. "I paid for it myself. Why should I let him wreck it?" My younger brother was notorious for whining until he was allowed to play with my stuff. Then when he played with it, he always broke it. I was not about to let him wreck all 200 bucks worth of technological glory.

"He's your brother. You should share." With that, my mother went back to the kitchen.

I put the game in the helmet and prepared to put it on. I was a little nervous. Would it be scary? Would it hurt? My excitement peaked, and I threw it on. I would be able to play for a few hours before my father came home for dinner. I could have almost five hours of Skyrim!

The game whirred to life, and the logos for the game companies sprang before my eyes. So far nothing special, but then the world sprang to life. I was in a plain room, facing myself in a mirror. It was amazing. My character looked exactly like me at first, just a plain short girl, but then I was allowed to edit my appearance. I made myself about 5'6'' and gave myself black hair in a ponytail. I had blue eyes and some sort of default clothes. They were rags. Nice. When I was edited to my heart's content, I joined the world.

I heard that every character is different from the next. The game box had a really cool explanation on the back: _Bethesda proudly presents its newest game in the Elder Scrolls series: Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. Skyrim is a revelation to the video game world! With new enhanced virtual reality helmet, you can delve into the world of Tamriel like never before. Each player is free to create a life for their character that is unique from every other. However, Skyrim is far from peaceful. A new terror is threatening Tamriel and only one character has the power to stop them, the mythical Dragonborn. Will you be the Dragonborn? Will you help save the world? The power to choose is in your hands._

As my character spawned into the world, I wondered what I'd be. Would I be some random shopkeeper or a mercenary? Maybe I'd be Dragonborn. When I first got the game and read the box, I had wanted to be the Dragonborn more than anything. Now that I was spawning into this new and unfamiliar world, I decided that being the Dragonborn would kind of suck. The fate of the rest of the game and every other player would be at your fingertips. It seemed like a great way to mess up and make a lot of enemies. I didn't need that kind of pressure. I was excited to become some sort of sellsword or hero of some kind. Maybe I could be the Dragonborn's sidekick! After all, there are thousands, maybe millions, of people playing this game. What are the chances that I'd be Dragonborn?

* * *

I was ripped from my musings as my character generated into the world. My vision was black for a while, and I wondered why. It took me a while to realize I was unconscious. I heard what sounded like wagon wheels on stone along with some horse hooves. I came to slowly and opened my eyes. The light was dazzling and bright, so much in fact, it was hard to see. After a few moments, my eyes adjusted, and I looked around at Skyrim for the first time.

The world was so breathtakingly beautiful. It looked real. I was in the back of a wagon, riding down a winding path from the mountains. The forest surrounding us was alive, despite the cold weather and the snow. Birds flew from the trees and deer scattered as the wagon got near them. I couldn't believe my eyes. I almost forgot all about my life outside the game. The pictures before my eyes and the feeling was too life-like.

The scenery was so amazing, that I slowly began to realize that something was really wrong. My hands were bound with a coarse rope in front of me. I panicked and tried to pry myself free. My struggling must have caught someone's attention, because a voice called out to me.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake." I quickly looked to my right and noticed for the first time that I was not alone in this wagon. A man in blue armor was looking at me intently. He had long blonde hair and a beard, and his hands were bound too. "You spawned right in the middle of an Imperial ambush, friend. Tough luck. I was fighting in the battle when I saw an Imperial dog take you away. Looks like you have bad luck, same as that thief over there."

He gestured with his head to a man to my right. This man looked ragged and a bit jittery. He wore rags like me. He was also bound.

"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell," the thief said.

I had no idea what was going on. These guys seemed like they really knew their stuff. They must have been beta testers, people who go the game early to test it. I was unaware there was a war going on. Apparently, the Empire and these Stormcloaks in blue were at war. Over what, I wasn't sure. I was unfortunately caught up in the middle of this nonsense before I ever spawned. Great. I got jittery myself as the thief was talking. I began to fiddle with my bonds again. Even though it was just rope, I couldn't get out. Just as I was about to try and bite them off, the thief turned to me.

"You there…" he began in a nervous tone. "You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

I was just about to open my mouth and ask what they were going to do with us, when the Stormcloak in blue spoke up again in a sharp tone.

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."

"Shut up back there," grumbled the wagon driver in red armor. He must have been an Imperial soldier. I noticed that we weren't the only wagon. There was another wagon that was full of Stormcloak prisoners right in front of us. I wondered where we were going, and what would happen to me. Is it possible my character could die before I even get a chance to play? I looked back to the thief to ask him if he knew where we were going, but he was looking at another player to my right. I hadn't noticed this player before. He wasn't like the rest of us in the wagon. He was a very big man, built like a bear, dressed in very fine furs. Not only was he bound, but he was also gagged. He had an air of authority to him. He didn't seem the least bit afraid. He only seemed angry. The thief must have noticed this too.

"And what's wrong with him, huh?" He asked.

The Stormcloak's sudden rage made me jump. "Watch your tongue! You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." A king? How did one player become a king? Was he generated as one, or did he take the crown by force? Why couldn't I have been someone else?

The thief spoke up again. "Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?" Okay, so this player, Ulfric, was the leader of a rebellion against the Empire. I thought I was starting to get it. I wondered about the thief's last question. Where were we going?

"I don't know where we are going, but Sovngarde awaits," the Stormcloak answered.

"What's Sovngarde?" I spoke up for the first time. It seemed to surprise the other players.

"Hah, I forgot," the Stormcloak soldier said. "You're new. Sovngarde is the afterlife for Nords like me and you. Anything else you need to know?"

I was so grateful someone was willing to help me out. I had no idea how much time I had, so I quickly thought of the most important questions I wanted to know.

"What's up with this war?" I decided.

"Well, we Stormcloaks have lived in the Nordic land of Skyrim our whole lives. We're natives here. We were the alpha testers of the video game. Then the beta testers came and most of them spawned as Empire soldiers, and they tried to take over our land. Now, the Empire wants to take over Skyrim, and make us worship their gods instead of our own, so now Skyrim is in a civil war."

Okay, that made sense.

"This is your first time in Skyrim then? You weren't a beta tester?" The soldier asked me.

"No, I've never played before. This is a first," I answered.

"Well, I'm Ralof from Riverwood. Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" He asked.

"Why do you care?" He snapped back.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home." The soldier sounded sad and far away.

"Rorikstead," the thief answered. "I'm… I'm from Rorikstead."

Last thoughts? I was not about to die! We had made it to a city. A soldier standing at the gate called out to the man on the horse leading the procession of wagons.

"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

Headsman? Are we seriously going to an execution? Lovely. My heart rate increased, and it felt like my stomach dropped to my feet.

"Good," Tullius responded. "Let's get this over with."

The gates to the city opened, and we proceeded into the village. The thief began to ramble about something. I think it was about the gods. I was more focused on watching Tullius, as he rode his horse up to some other people on horses near the gate.

"Look at him," Ralof spoke up gruffly. "General Tullius, the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this."

We rode past them and went deeper into the city. It seemed like a quiet little village. If we were here under different circumstances, I might have actually enjoyed it here. People were sitting on their porches watching our silent procession.

Ralof broke the silence first. "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in."

We were quiet again for a few moments. He seemed lost in sad memories, and I had nothing to add. What do you say when you're riding to your execution?

"Funny," Ralof started again. "When I was a low level, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

I wanted to comfort him or, at least, say something, but my voice wouldn't work. I decided to stare at my bound hands instead. Why did I even buy this game? I didn't know if this stress was worth it. I thought about exiting the game to possibly get out of my death, however, I didn't know how to get back to the main menu.

"Hey, Ralof? How do we get back to the main menu to quit?" I asked.

"What?"

"How do we quit?" I repeated.

Ralof eyes look glazed over. He seemed deep in thought. "I don't know…"

I was going to question him more, but the words died in my mouth as we rounded a corner, and I caught sight of the executioner and the block. I picked up on some of the citizen's chatter.

"Who are they, daddy?" A small boy asked his father. "Where are they going?"

The father looked nervous and said, "You need to go inside, little cub."

The boy looked upset. "Why? I want to watch the soldiers."

The dad seemed more desperate now. "Inside the house. Now."

The child gave up and went inside. The first wagon stopped by the block. Ours began to pull up next to the other and stop[ed as well. A female captain started barking orders.

"Why are we stopping?" The thief panicked.

"Why do you think?" Ralof asked. "End of the line."

I sighed and looked at my hands again. Why did this have to happen? Ralof sighed as well.

"Let's go." He looked at me. "Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." Even though I didn't want to die, if it was inevitable, I would get up and face it.

Ralof got to his feet, and I followed. Ulfric was already out of the wagon, but the thief was not as cooperative.

"No! Wait! We aren't rebels!" He argued but got to his feet anyway. I was starting to get annoyed with his cowardice. It didn't seem like these soldiers would listen to us. The thief's cries were not helping. Ralof must have started to think the same thing.

"Face your death with some courage, thief," he said.

The thief wouldn't listen, though. "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

I jumped out of the back of the wagon after the thief. Our little group of prisoners from our cart assembled in front of two grave-looking Imperial soldiers. One was a man, the other was a female captain by the looks of her armor and the tone of her voice.

"Step towards the block when we call your name," she barked. "One at a time."

Ralof jumped out of the wagon and landed to my left.

"Empire loves their damn lists," he grumbled.

The male soldier read from a great list, "Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm."

Ulfric stepped forward and onward towards the block, dignified as ever.

"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric," Ralof said to him as the Jarl passed us to head to the block.

"Ralof of Riverwood," the soldier called. Ralof silently walked away from our group. "Lokir of Rorikstead."

The thief, Lokir, stepped forward and said, "No, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" With that, he dashed past the Captain and down the road.

"Halt!" The Captain bellowed. Lokir kept running.

"You're not going to kill me!" He shouted back at her.

"Archers!" The Captain retaliated. An archer on the street took aim and shot Lokir dead with a single arrow to the back. I winced. I was annoyed that Lokir was stupid enough to run away like that, but I was also sad for the poor bastard. This was way messed up. Maybe if your character dies, you can come back as a new one. I wasn't too sure on that, though.

"Anyone else feel like running?" The Captain asked, looking at me. I said nothing and kept a blank face to mask my fear and anger.

"Wait," the soldier with the list said. "You there. Step forward." I did. "Who are you?"

Somehow I found my voice and answered, "Falena. I'm new here. I just spawned into this world."

The soldier looked confused. "What is a first timer doing out here? How'd you get out here? All first-time players spawn by Whiterun."

"I don't know, sir," I responded. "I'm very confused and lost."

"Well, you picked a bad time to come to Skyrim kinsman," he said to me. Then, he turned to the Captain who had stayed uncharacteristically quiet during our conversation. "Captain. What should we do? She's not on the list."

The Captain put her hands on her hips and ordered, "Forget the list. She goes to the block."

It may have been a trick of the light, but I could have sworn I saw the soldier wince. Nevertheless, he said, "By your orders, Captain. Follow the Captain, prisoner."

My heart raced again as I followed the stern woman to join the group of almost a dozen prisoners. We all faced the block as Tullius stepped forward and addressed Ulfric.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like The Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

Ulfric grunted something into his gag.

The General continued, "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

All of a sudden, Tullius was cut off by a noise rising over the wind. It sounded like the wind itself, almost. I thought I had imagined it, but everyone else was looking around for the noise as well.

"What was that?" The soldier with the list asked.

"It's nothing," Tullius dismissed. "Carry on."

"Yes, General Tullius," the Captain saluted. What a kiss ass. "Give them their last rites."

A woman in robes stepped forward and raised her hands in blessing. "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of…"

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with," a ginger Stormcloak cut in.

The priestess let down her arms and said, "As you wish." She walked back to her spot, and the ginger Stormcloak strode forward to the block.

"Come on, I haven't got all morning," he said. The Captain pushed him to his knees and then kicked him onto the block. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" This guy was tough.

The executioner, dressed in black, picked up his axe and slowly rose it up behind him, and then let it down on the Stormcloak's neck, easily beheading him. I was too frightened to look away. A collective gasp had gone through the crowd of civilians watching from their porches as it had happened. It was almost fascinating how easy the execution had looked. The ginger's head fell into the basket. The body spurt out blood like a ketchup bottle for a moment, then fell off the block and to the ground. I probably would have vomited if I would have had anything in my stomach.

Angry shouts sounded around the square as civilians cursed either side of the war. I had tunnel vision on the decapitated body in front of me. That would be me in a few minutes. My knees shook, and I almost fainted.

"As fearless in death as he was in life," I heard Ralof say. It helped me out of my tunnel vision, and I looked to him. His face was blank, and he too seemed to have tunnel vision on the body. I wondered if he had known that Stormcloak well.

"Next," I heard the Captain call, "the Nord in rags!"

My heart caught in my throat. That was me. I tried to look as tough as the ginger Stormcloak, but my feet refused to work. Thank the gods that the noise rose over the distant mountains again like wind, buying me some time to collect myself.

"There it is again," the list man said. "Did you hear that?" There was no mistaking it, the noise had sounded louder this time. It was probably just the wind or a wild animal. I just wanted to get this execution over with.

The Captain seemed unfazed, "I said, next prisoner!"

The soldier turned to me. "To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy." I saw something in his eyes. Regret? Hopelessness? Pseudo-sadness? I couldn't tell.

At least, I got control of my limbs back. I slowly walked to the block until I was standing in front of it with my back to the Captain. I locked eyes with the executioner for a moment. His red eyes seemed to glow under his hood. I felt the Captain's hand on my shoulder guiding me to my knees, then her foot on my back sending me almost sprawling onto the block. My right cheek hit the stone hard, and I felt the ginger Stormcloak's blood smear across my cheek. It was still warm, and the metallic smell stung my nose. I was disgusted, so I lifted my head a bit from the stone and looked to the executioner.

I couldn't believe this was it. It wasn't fair! I was innocent. I wanted to say something brave like the ginger, but I kept my mouth closed, in case it should open, and I would say something cowardly like the thief.

The executioner hefted his axe and slowly raised it, just as he had done previously. Then, the noise like wind broke out again. However, this time, we saw the culprit behind it.

A large black figure flew over the mountains and fell unto the tower just behind the executioner. I got a good look at it for a moment. It was unmistakable. This was a pure black dragon with piercing red eyes. It had terrible black horns jutting out from his head, back, and even his wings. The dragon was so massive, that it seemed overwhelming to look at, and I found that I couldn't really describe it even though I saw it. Those eyes caught your attention and held your gaze so that you couldn't escape even if you tried. I was too shocked and scared to say anything. I didn't know this game had dragons in it. I had a friend who alpha tested it, and he had never said anything about dragons.

"What in Oblivion is that?" I heard the General ask from somewhere behind me.

"Sentries!" The Captain shouted. "What do you see?"

"It's in the clouds!" Someone screamed.

"Dragon!" Shouted another.

The executioner was just about to let the axe fall on my neck. I had almost forgotten that I was about to die. Just before I could be killed, however, the dragon opened his jaw and let loose a noise like a bellow. A power surge struck everyone around, and my executioner fell dead. I was pushed off the block and onto my face. I was dazed and disoriented. Whatever that beast did, I hoped it wasn't permanent. I couldn't see straight, but I could still hear the chaos. A lot of people must have survived because there was screaming and yelling over the sound of explosions.

"Don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" Tullius cried.

"Keep your eyes on it!"

"It's still coming!"

"By Ysmir! Nothing kills it!"

Then, a voice near me spoke out over the noise.

"Hey, first-timer. Get up!" I raised my head and tried to see who had called out to me. All I saw were shapes and colors. I was incredibly dizzy. I saw blue, so it was a Stormcloak before me. It must have been Ralof. I struggled to me feet. "Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!"

I stood shakily and followed Ralof into a tower across the square. He closed the thick door behind us which really dampened the noise from outside. We weren't alone in the tower.

"Jarl Ulfric!" Ralof greeted the Jarl who had somehow escaped like we had. "What is that thing? Could the legends be true?" Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had never seen a dragon before.

"Legends don't burn down villages," the Jarl responded in a low accented voice. "We need to move. Now!"

I had finally regained my sight, thank the gods. Otherwise, escaping from a dragon would have been so much harder.

"Up through the tower, let's go!" Ralof said. I led the way up the spiral stairs behind me. I had almost made it to a landing. There was another Stormcloak up there already, and he was trying to clear the path of rocks.

"We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way!" He said as I approached.

Before I could make it over to him, the section of the wall imploded and fell on top of him. I fell back down a few stairs as the head of the dragon came bursting through the wall.

" _YOL TOOR SHUL_!"

The dragon blasted a jet of fire right where the Stormcloak had been. That soldier was way dead. The fire burned so brightly, I was nearly blinded again. Even though I was at no risk of being burnt as this distance, I still felt the heat. It was uncomfortable even at this distance, and I looked away. Soon, the dragon flew off to bother other citizens.

Ralof collected himself faster than I did, and he made it to the landing first. I quickly joined him and looked out the hole in the wall.

"See the inn on the other side?" He asked me.

"Yes," I responded.

"Jump through the roof and keep going!" He told me.

"What about you?" I asked.

Ralof gave me a stern look and said louder, "Go! We'll follow when we can!"

I didn't argue and leapt out the side of the burning tower and to the roof of the inn. The roof didn't hold, and I fell to the top floor. The inn was on fire too. I got to my feet, my hands still bound, and jogged to the far side of the inn. There was a hole in the floor that I jumped through to get to the first level of the inn. From there, I traveled outside and was met with an obstacle.

I saw the soldier who had the list earlier standing by a crumbling building with an old man. A little farther off past the house was a young boy and his father. The dragon was preparing to land right in front of them.

"Haming, you need to get over here. Now!" The boy heeded the soldier's words and ran to him as the dragon landed in front of his father. "Torolf!" The soldier cried as the beast chomped on Torolf, the boy's father, and killed him. "Gods… Everyone get back!"

The dragon had seen us and was about to loose a stream of fire. The old man grabbed me by the collar and forced me to crouch behind cover. The soldier pushed the boy roughly to me, and I grabbed him. The soldier ducked behind cover as a torrent of flame erupted where we all had been standing just moments before. I turned my back to the flame and tried to cover the boy. Even though I was standing away from the fire, my back got a little burnt. The pain wasn't terrible, but I was glad the boy didn't get hurt.

When the fire died, the dragon swooped off again. The soldier turned to me. "Still alive, prisoner?"

"Just barely," I replied.

"Keep close to me if you want to stay that way," he finished. I released the boy, and the soldier told the old man, "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense."

The old man took the boy's hand and responded, "Gods guide you, Hadvar."

With that, Hadvar and I took off running deeper into the burning city. We had only just rounded the corner from Gunnar and Hamming, when Hadvar yelled, "Stay close to the wall!"

I didn't question him as we both dove to the left and stood with our backs to the wall. No sooner, the dragon landed on the wall above us and let out another storm of fire, destroying the home in front of us. We could have been in there. I was glad Hadvar had such a keen eye.

I got a great look at the dragon as it towered over us. I was directly below its neck. The neck was about as thick as a tree, and its scales were as black as oil. The fire's reflection seemed to dance in each individual scale, making the beast seem even more unreal. Thank the gods that the dragon flew off before it noticed Hadvar and me.

"Quickly, follow me!" Hadvar advanced on through the home that the dragon had just torched. I followed very closely so I wouldn't get split up in the confusion.

We broke in and then out of the house and found ourselves right before the gate that we entered the city through. It seemed every survivor was gathered here. Wounded and dead lay on the ground in pools of blood, children and families ran like panicked livestock, and soldiers scurried around firing arrows as they went. There were more survivors than I thought. Tullius was still alive and called out to Hadvar as soon as he saw him.

"Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!" He yelled.

"It's you and me, prisoner," Hadvar told me as we ran for the keep. "Stay close!" We were running to the keep. The keep was a strong mass of stonework. It looked like we could be safe there. It looked kind of like a castle. If that couldn't save us, I didn't know what would.

We had almost made it, when Ralof and the other Stormcloaks appeared from the smoke.

"Ralof!" Hadvar yelled. I didn't know they knew each other. "You damned traitor. Out of my way!"

"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time," Ralof retorted.

"Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde." With that, Hadvar and Ralof stalked off in opposite directions. Ralof stood by a hole in the keep wall, while Hadvar stood at the door. Both looked expectantly at me.

"You!" Ralof called. "Come on, into the keep!" He gestured wildly for me to hurry.

"Come on, prisoner! This way!" Hadvar motioned as well.

I wasn't sure what to do. Ralof was a fellow prisoner and had helped me out more then Hadvar. However, Hadvar did help me get past the dragon, and he seemed nicer than Ralof did. On the other hand, I knew Ralof longer, and Hadvar had technically tried to kill me.

I wasted a few precious moments deciding, and the dragon was coming around for another strike. I decided to act and not think. My feet led me to Hadvar, and we were safe in the keep, the thick door muffling the sounds of screams from the outside.


	2. Dungeons and Dragons

**Author's note: Thanks for taking the time to read my story! I loved seeing that a lot of people read it! It took me a really long time to write this thing, so it really feels worth it when other people can enjoy it too. Please leave a review telling me what you think. I don't care if you love it or hate it, just tell me why. I want to bring people the best book I can possible create, so every review helps me achieve that goal. Thanks again, and on with the story!**

 **CHAP** **TER TWO:** Dungeons and Dragons

It took me awhile to catch my breath and try and process what had happened to me. At least it was almost over. All I had to do was escape with Hadvar, and it would be all over. We stood behind the door to the keep and assessed our wounds.

"Are you hurt?" Hadvar asked me as I was panting. I didn't want to tell him I was out of breath so much because I was freaking out and lack cardio.

"Not too bad. Just a few burns," I told him.

"Same here," he said, although he looked really ragged. "Was that really a dragon? Bringer of the end times?"

I shook my head but didn't say anything. I pulled at my bindings some more. Hadvar noticed me struggling.

"We should keep moving. Come here. Let me see if I can get those bindings off."

I did as he asked and stepped forward. He grabbed my wrist and took an iron dagger and carefully cut the ropes.

"Thanks," I said as I rubbed my sore wrists.

"No problem," he responded. "Take a look around. See if you can find some armor and a weapon. There should be plenty of gear to choose from. I'm going to see if I can't find something for these burns."

I walked around the room. It was a barrack for Imperial soldiers. There were a few beds and chests around and I was a bit tempted to flop in a bed and not wake up. I dug around in the first chest and found a helmet. Another chest offered more supplies including boots, a chest plate, an iron sword, and a key. The armor was the same kind as Hadvar's, Imperial. I'll admit, it looked better on him. I had never worn armor or carried a sword before, so I felt very awkward.

Just as I finished donning my armor, Hadvar came up to me after rummaging through some cabinets.

"I found this. It helps with burns," he said offering the vial. I took it and rubbed the aloe on my red skin.

"You should give that sword a few swings too," Hadvar added as he looked for a way out of the room.

I pulled the iron sword from its sheath and held it in my right hand. It was heavier then I thought, and it felt awkward and clumsy in my hand. I gave it a few swings, and I almost dropped it. This was going to be interesting. I sheathed the sword when it seemed Hadvar had discovered the way out.

"Ready?" He asked as I approached him.

"As I'll ever be," I responded.

Hadvar led the way through another door and down a short hallway. My palms were sweaty. I was really nervous about the possibility of fighting a dragon. How the hell were Hadvar and I supposed to escape a dungeon while a dragon hunts us down? I felt like vomiting again.

We made it to a gated door leading to a circular room that I could hear voices coming from. There were multiple people in there.

"You hear that?" Hadvar asked.

"Sure do," I said. "Who are they?" I hoped they were friends.

"Stormcloaks," he answered. He pulled a pull chain that lowered the gate. "Maybe we can reason with them."

That sounded like a good plan. I already didn't feel confident fighting a dragon. It would make things a lot worse if we also had to fight Stormcloaks.

We slowly entered the room with Hadvar in the lead. We kept our swords sheathed and Hadvar even raised his hands like he was surrendering. The two Stormcloaks in the room, a man and a woman, quickly dove to their weapons.

"Hold on, now," Hadvar reasoned. "We just want to…" He was cut off.

"For Ulfric!" The male Stormcloak rushed Hadvar and swung at him with a mighty greatsword.

The seasoned Imperial was ready for it though, and they began a duel. I drew my own sword and watched for a minute. I wanted to help, but I wasn't really sure what to do. Then the woman charged into the fight. She was going to strike Hadvar from behind. I had to do something, so I gripped my sword tighter and stood in the way of the Stormcloak. She seemed unfazed and launched into battle with her sword and shield.

She let out some war cry and threw an overhead swing. I reacted with an instinctual wince and raised my sword. I blocked the sword with the flat of my blade, but I didn't put enough force in my block, so the swords came down and bashed me in the chest. I was pushed back and probably got bruises, but at least I didn't get a sword through the head.

While I was gathering myself, the lady slashed me across the chest. I screamed and panicked. I slashed everywhere and swung my sword like a maniac. The soldier was caught off guard, and I overwhelmed her. She fell to the ground, and I stabbed my sword through her gut and finished her. I turned to see how Hadvar was doing. He had already dispatched his enemy and was watching me.

"What?" I asked irritably.

Hadvar laughed and said, "You are a first timer."

I felt myself blush in fury, and I turned back to face the body of the lady I killed. My sword was still jutting out of her gut. I felt like throwing up again. Tears came to my eyes as I looked down at the person I had murdered. She had only wanted to live. She probably had a family and friends that would cry over the loss. She was only trying to survive a dragon attack like I was. I put a hand to my mouth and cried.

Today was so messed up. First an execution, then a dragon attack, now a fight to the death? What was my life coming to? What a minute. This was just a game. I stopped crying immediately. This game was too realistic to be fun.

"How do you quit?" I asked, sternly and suddenly.

Hadvar was caught by surprise. "What?"

"How do you quit?" I turned around and yelled at him, tears still streaming down my face. "You're an alpha tester, right? How do you quit?"

"You can't quit now!" Hadvar exclaimed. "I need your help! Without you, I would have died in that battle."

"Whatever," I grumbled. I examined the cut on my chest. My tears were making it difficult to see, though the wound didn't seem too bad. "I'm a terrible fighter, and I just want to go home."

"Okay, stop talking like that," Hadvar said. He stepped in front of me and pulled my sword out of the woman's stomach. I had to look away. He cleaned it off and gently put it in my sheath for me. "You are a great warrior."

"But I…"

"No, listen," Hadvar insisted. "My father once told me, that a warrior isn't judged by their size, strength, or even their prowess in battle."

"But that's everything a warrior is!" I argued.

"No! Listen to me," Hadvar said. "A warrior isn't judged by those things. A warrior is judged by how they do their duty and the size of their heart. You just saved my life. You're a pretty good warrior by my standards, and I can't think of anyone else I want by my side."

That actually made me feel better. I did want to keep helping Hadvar. I wanted us to make it through this challenge. I couldn't leave him.

"Thank you," I said quietly and sincerely. "Your words hearten me. I will help you finish this quest as long as you need me to."

Hadvar smiled, and I wiped the tears from my face. "Now let's get out of here," Hadvar said.

Hadvar tried to find a way out of the room, as I salvaged some better equipment from the bodies. I found a pair of fur gloves, a dinky shield, and a greatsword. I had no idea which kind of weapon I would like to fight with, so I was going to experiment with all of them. I already hated fighting with a one-handed sword alone, so I was going to try it with a shield.

"I found a way out," Hadvar called over to me. I ran over to him, confidence returning, and we exited the circular room.

The hallway was dark. I could see some people down at the other end of it, and I hoped they weren't enemies. Just as we began to approach them, the building shook and a large section of ceiling broke away.

"Look out!" I heard Hadvar shout.

I scrambled out of the way and fell back with Hadvar. The ceiling caved in with a near deafening crash. When the dust cleared, the hallway was impassible. I hoped the others hadn't been squashed, but I wasn't too sure they'd been spared.

"Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easy," Hadvar said. "Come on, through here."

Hadvar led the way through a door to our left. We found ourselves in a kitchen, but we weren't alone.

"What are you doing? We need to get out of Helgen!" Said one Stormcloak to the other one who was digging around in a barrel.

"These Imperials keep potions in here," said the rummaging one.

Hadvar drew his sword, and I got mine. I also equipped my hide shield in my left arm. I was going to be ready for this fight.

We charged into the fight before the Stormcloaks even saw us. Hadvar struck first, but I was ready to attack right behind him. I jabbed my sword in the soldier and then followed with a shield bash. It was very effective and the Stormcloak was caught off guard. He drew his sword, but before he could attack, I slashed and hacked him until he was dead. Hadvar wasn't quite done, so I went up behind his attacker and stabbed him in the back. It was easier to kill these people when I knew it was just a game.

"See if you can find some potions or supplies," Hadvar said as he cleaned his blade.

I did as he asked and searched the barrel the Stormcloaks had been looking in. I found a few colored vials and put them in my satchel. There were a few other potions scattered around the room, as well as a little bit of gold. When I was done, I met Hadvar by the door.

"Done then? Through here."

Hadvar led the way through another door. This way had a set of stairs leading further down into the keep. I wondered which way we were heading.

"The torture room," Hadvar enlightened me. "Gods, I wish we didn't need these."

That sentence alone proved that I was initially wrong about Hadvar. I had thought he was just a typical soldier: empty-mindedly doing his job and enjoying the pain he was causing to the enemy. I was wrong. All Hadvar wanted was for Skyrim to be safe again, and for it to happen in the most peaceful way possible. He didn't want to hurt anyone. This was proven by the look in his eye when he had been ordered to execute me, and him trying to negotiate with the Stormcloaks, and the time he let Ralof and his buddies get away when we were about to enter the keep. I was sad that I had stereotyped all soldiers as cold blooded bastards. The Legion didn't seem so bad. After all, they were just doing their job to protect Skyrim. However, that Captain was bad news. She was heartless and wanted blood from anyone who was seen with Stormcloaks. I was filled with rage just thinking about her. If she survived this place, I was going after her.

Hadvar and I trotted down the stairs, drawing our swords as we went. I was going to try using a greatsword this time.

The torturer and his assistant were surprisingly still here, and they were fighting a small band of Stormcloaks. They were doing well, but we figured they might need some help. I gripped my greatsword and rushed into battle. The torturer was going strong, using magic to slay his enemies by throwing bolts of lightning. It was the first time I had ever seen magic before. It was pretty neat; maybe I would try it sometime.

I found that swinging a greatsword was a lot more difficult than a one-handed sword. It took a lot longer to complete a swing, and it also took more strength. However, I felt more confident with it for some reason. It was larger and offered more protection and options than a regular sword. I blocked a strike here, and swung wildly at a neck there. I had a natural talent with a greatsword.

Soon the battle was over, and all four of us stood together in the center of the room. The torturer looked kind of creepy, so I didn't stand too close. The assistant seemed more approachable. He had a dirty face and long brown hair with a beard to match. They both wore Imperial armor too. Hadvar and the torturer began to talk, while the assistant asked if I needed any supplies. I followed him to a desk and found a small amount of gold and lockpicks. I left my iron sword and my hide shield by the wall. I didn't need them. Maybe some other survivor would come around and use them.

When we were done getting supplies, the assistant and I rejoined Hadvar and the torturer's conversation.

"Come with us," Hadvar was saying. "We need to get out of here."

"You have no authority over me, boy," the torturer snapped.

"Didn't you hear me? I said the keep is under attack!" Hadvar persuaded.

The assistant chimed in. "Forget the old man. I'll come with you." I was glad another person was joining our quest.

"Nice. I'm Falena," I offered my hand.

"Birger."

We gripped each other's forearms. I was going for a handshake, but apparently that wasn't a thing.

I turned back to Hadvar. He was inspecting some of the torturer's cages. He paused by the second one.

"Wait a second. Looks like there's something in this cage," he said.

"Don't bother with that," the torturer dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Lost the key ages ago. Poor fellow screamed for weeks."

I shuddered. I didn't like the torturer. Letting a player die like this was unsportsmanlike.

Hadvar turned to me, "See if you can get it open with some picks. We'll need everything we can get."

I walked over to the cage and knelt by the lock. I wasn't sure how to do this, but I had seen it in a spy movie once before, so how hard could it be? I jammed a file into the lock with my left hand, while I grabbed a pick and slipped it into the lock. I broke the first pick quickly. I was a lot more careful with the second, but that one busted too. I maneuvered the third one just right, and I turned the lock 90 degrees, and it popped off.

"Finally," I muttered and wiped the sweat and grime from my face. The cage floor had some gold pieces scattered on it, as well as a potion and a book.

"What's this?" I asked, holding the strange tome out to Birger.

"It's a spell book," he answered. "You can learn magic from them."

I swiped a layer of dust off the cover and read the title, _Sparks_. I carefully opened the book and read the first page.

"We don't have time for that now, Falena," Hadvar said gently. "You can take it with you."

"Sure, take all my things. Please," the torturer said sarcastically.

I sneered at him and took the stuff anyway. Even though I had only read a little bit of the tome, I felt something deep inside me welling up. It felt warm, but familiar. I wondered what it was. Another roar shook the keep and I was brought back to the present.

"Let's get out of here," Hadvar said and started down a hallway to the left. Birger followed him. I was about to go with them, but hesitated. I looked back at the torturer. Even though I did not like him, it seemed sad for him to wait here alone and be eaten by a dragon.

"Are you sure you aren't coming with us?" I asked.

The torturer dismissed me. "Leave me to my work. Unless you plan to stay and help?"

I grimaced and shook my head. I packed the spell book into my satchel and started down the hallway with my friends.

"There's no way out that way, you know…" the torturer called after me. I ignored him. If he wanted to be a coward, so be it.

The hallway did look like a dead end, but Birger found a passage at the far end that led to a lower dungeon type place. There were skeletons all over that room. I liked this place even less than the torture room. It made me feel hopeless.

"Hey look!" I exclaimed. "There's a way out!" I ran to a hole in the wall. I wondered what had blasted a hole in the thick stone. "Come on."

I led the way down into the cave. We wandered through the cave system slowly. I wondered if the torturer had known that the keep was on top of an old cave system.

"How big is this cave?" I asked a few minutes later. The narrow path was making me a little claustrophobic.

"I have no idea," Hadvar said. "I didn't know this was here."

Birger grunted in agreement. Just then, I heard voices up ahead.

"Woah, wait," I shushed the group. "Do hear that?" I listened to the voices that were sounding from the chamber around the corner.

"Where in Oblivion are we supposed to go? Where's the way out?" One asked frantically.

"Just give me a minute," another one said.

It sounded like there were quite a few people in there. I hoped they were friendly.

My team and I rounded the corner and were met with the unfriendly angry faces of a half dozen Stormcloaks.

We all went to our weapons at the same time and were on top of each other in a second. Hadvar and I fought back to back, which was becoming normal, while Birger battled two others single-handedly. Hadvar and I finished our two guys fairly quickly, and then he went to help Birger while I ran over a bridge to get rid of two pesky archers. They were distracted by firing arrows at Birger, who had fallen to the ground. I prayed he was alright.

When I approached the archers, they caught sight of me and switched targets from Hadvar and Birger to me. They fired volleys of arrows at me. I dodged the first few, but I was slowed down when I took one to the shoulder. I fell back to try and find cover, but the arrows did not relent. I took another one to the shin, and another to the hip.

I was beginning to see red, and I thought I might black out. I looked over at Hadvar. He was struggling to get Birger to safety. At least they weren't dead. If I didn't keep the archers distracted though, they would be. Just as I was about to launch stupidly back into the fight, I noticed the archers were standing in a puddle of a ruddy liquid. It looked familiar. It might be oil, I thought. I couldn't possibly mess up anymore, so I was accepting any idea I got.

I felt the familiar and warm feeling in my gut again. I thought of fire. I thought of a fire building up in me so hot, that I had to let it out. I imagined the dragon. I could do this.

I peeked over my cover and held my hand out like I was using the Force. I let the feeling overwhelm my senses and then let it go.

A bright tongue of flame erupted from my palm and blasted towards the puddle of oil. The puddle ignited and swallowed the archers up in a storm of fire.

"Well, aren't you full of surprises," Birger said as he limped, with the help of Hadvar, up behind me.

"I don't really know what I just did," I confessed.

"That was magic if I ever saw it," Hadvar said.

"Really?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes. How long have you been able to do that?" Hadvar questioned me.

"I don't know," I answered. "I've never done it before."

"You've never read a spell book called _Flames_?" Birger asked as he tried to stand on his own.

"No," I said honestly.

"Then you have a gift," Birger said. "Not a lot of people have a natural talent for magic. Especially a Nord. Or a first timer."

"You know I'm a first timer?" I wondered.

Birger actually laughed. "It's pretty obvious."

I blushed and looked down at myself. I had three arrows in me, and they hurt pretty badly. The only reason I was still standing was that I was filled with adrenaline and the warm sensation. Maybe I should let the warm feeling wash over me again, I thought. I ripped the arrows out of me and almost threw up again; that feeling was getting old. When the arrows were removed, I closed my eyes and let the feeling of warmth spread over me. When I opened my eyes again, all my wounds had closed, but had left scars.

"Wow," said Birger. Hadvar was speechless.

"What?" I asked.

"That was… unlike any magic I've ever seen," Birger breathed. "You say you've never done magic before?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I thought it was this easy for everybody."

Birger whistled.

Hadvar examined the bodies of the dead archers. He tossed me a long bow and a few dozen arrows.

"Let's see if you impress with this," he said gruffly.

I shouldered the new weapon.

I turned to ask Birger if he knew the way out, but before I could say anything, he said, "I better stay back and see to the old man." I didn't want him to go, but I thought it was also noble of him to not abandon his friend.

I sighed and pursed my lip. I wasn't sure what to say. What do you say to people who help you escape a dragon attack?

"Thanks for your help," Hadvar said.

"Anytime, friend." They clasped arms. Then, Birger turned to me.

"You've got something special inside you, first timer. I think you'll have a say in the future of this land, yet." Then to the both of us, "Good luck you two." With that, he limped back to the torturer. As I watched him go, I prayed to any god that would listen that we would see him again.

* * *

"What's next? Giant snakes?" Hadvar laughed without humor.

We had just survived an attack of giant spiders. The monsters were so disturbing and nightmare inducing that I don't want to talk about them right now.

We had continued on after Birger left us. We crossed a bridge and entered a larger part of the cave with a stream in it. Just as we had crossed the bridge, rocks had come tumbling down behind us as the dragon shook the keep again.

"I'm glad we weren't under that," Hadvar had said as we dusted ourselves off.

Then, we had followed the river until it ended at the spider's den. I had taken the bastards out with my bow and my greatsword. I was getting good with both of them. I tried not to use my magic around Hadvar. It seemed to make him uncomfortable.

Now, we were crouched behind a wagon in the biggest chamber of the cave yet. So big, in fact, a bear had decided to call it home.

Hadvar had given me the option to either take it out with my bow or to sneak past it. I didn't trust my sneaking skills in this restricting armor. So, I notched an arrow in my longbow, and drew back the bow string. It was surprisingly difficult. I had played a video game with bows in them before, but they made it seem easy. Drawing back a bow is hard.

I pulled back as far as I could, then let the arrow loose. It struck the bear and hurt it drastically. However, it was not dead. I was surprised and quickly launched another projectile. This one killed the bear before it even stood up. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"Not the sneaking type, ay?" Hadvar teased as we walked on through the cave. I laughed and continued on with him. He was a pretty great guy, even though he had tried to kill me.

We rounded a corner and were faced with blinding light. It was a way out.

"This looks like the way out! I was starting to wonder if we'd ever make it," Hadvar voiced my thoughts.

We ran out into the light of the day. It took my eyes a few moments to adjust, and I got my first good look at the world around me. There were majestic mountains in the distance covered in snow, fir trees and rocky terrain stretched as far as the eye could see, and the brightness was all very overwhelming from the dark gloom of the cave.

Just as I was about to go explore this new world, Hadvar yelled, "Wait!" He hid behind a boulder, and I was quick to follow.

The black dragon flew up from behind us, away from the burning ruins of Helgen. He was soon far away, but he stopped, and he looked right at us as he hovered in the air, pumping his mighty wings.

"Attention, players. Welcome to my world. My name is Alduin, the World Eater. " The dragon's voice was shocking: low, breathy but still strong and chilling. His voice echoed around the whole world, I was sure. Everyone would be able to hear this. "As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat… This is not a defect in the game." What was he talking about? Was this part of the game? "It is a feature of Skyrim Online. You cannot logout of Skyrim yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the helmet. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the helmet will emit a powerful microwave destroying your brain and thus ending your life." I gasped and Hadvar swore.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the helmets. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Skyrim and the real world." No! All those people. I killed some of them. I shook and fell to my knees in the snow. "As you can imagine, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a helmet being removed is now minimal." That did not make me feel better. In fact, knowing that people were watching this on TV made me feel like I was about to throw up again.

"I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the helmet will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape. To complete the game." Defeat the game? Was it serious? We need a Dragonborn to beat the game. What if no one was found? Was this the end? Why would anyone do this?

"Right now, you're probably wondering, "'Why? Why would Alduin, the World Eater, lord of Skyrim, do all this?'" That's exactly what I was thinking. I clenched my fists. "I'll have you know, this was not Bethesda's original intent. Those dogs had nothing to do with this. They made me, Alduin the World Eater, a pawn in their terrible game. To get revenge, I overrode their systems and became the most powerful super virus the world has ever seen! Now, I will make all of you my pawns in my terrible game!" I don't know what freaked me out more: the fact we could really die here, or the fact that this was not part of the game.

The dragon stared haughtily at Hadvar and I crouching behind the rocks. He seemed to say his last words to us specifically.

"Good luck, players." With that, the beast flew away with a final roar.


	3. The Breaking of the Fellowship

**CHAPTER THREE:** The Breaking of the Fellowship

We were silent. I didn't know what to say and apparently neither did Hadvar. I was crying again. Why did I ever buy this game? I was on all fours in the snow, trying not to vomit. I heard Hadvar sniffing, so he must have been crying too. What about my family? What about my friends or my job? We would never get out of here alive.

No.

No, I would not go down without a fight. If it's a fight this bastard dragon wanted, it was a fight he was going to get. I may not be any stupid Dragonborn, but I just survived my own execution, a dragon attack, and fighting off the Stormcloaks. The other players needed someone to help them. The fire may burn and the cuts may sting, but dishonor is the most painful wound you can obtain. To run from your problems would be dishonorable and cowardly. I may not be the Dragonborn, but I am a warrior, and soon all of Skyrim would know it.

I got up from the snow and fixed my gaze on the mountains in the distance.

"We need to stop this," I said.

"How?" Hadvar's voice was thick with emotion. "He's the World Eater. We're dead."

"No, we aren't," I turned to him. "I still have hope, and as long as hope lives on in me or the people of this world, we will still have a fighting chance." Hadvar got up and quickly wiped up his tears. "Are you coming?" I asked after I had laced up my boots.

"It'd probably be best if we split up," he said, and I saw his point. It would be safer to travel separately as to not draw attention. "Good luck. I wouldn't have made it without your help today."

He shouldered his own bow and started down the narrow path. I was going to let him go, but for some reason, I couldn't. After all, there was strength in numbers, right?

"Hold it," I called after him, gruffly. He stopped and looked back at me. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." I jogged up to him, and we walked side by side. "Where's the nearest town?" I asked after a brief moment of silence.

"Riverwood," Hadvar answered. "My uncle's the blacksmith there. I'm sure he'll help us out."

"Wow, you have family in the game?" I wondered.

"Aye."

He was quiet, and so was I. I wasn't sure if I'd want my family in the game or not. It'd be nice to have a familiar face to help me out, but on the other hand, there is a possibility they would die.

"Listen," Hadvar started. "You should go to Solitude and join up with the Imperial Legion. We could really use someone like you." I thought about it for a moment. They did just try to kill me, so I wasn't a huge fan right now. Though, I did like Hadvar, and I trusted him better than those Stormcloaks. After all, more Stormcloaks have tried to kill me now then Imperials have. Hadvar continued, "And if the rebels have themselves the dragon on their side, General Tullius is the only one who can stop them."

He may have been right. I couldn't have thought of anyone better suited to be the Dragonborn. Maybe he was, and none of us knew it yet. He was pretty brave under fire. I was pretty sure that today was kind of a bad day to base my opinion of either side, so I'd want to learn more about them before I did anything crazy like join the army.

We made it to a stone road and wound down towards the river. I felt kind of safe, actually. I had my weapons and Hadvar, and it was a beautiful day. The dragon attack seemed so long ago. We'd only taken a few steps, when Hadvar paused and pointed to some sort of ruin on the mountain across the river.

"See that ruin up there?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Bleak Falls Barrow. When I was a lower level, that place always used to give me nightmares. Draugr creeping down the mountain to climb through my window at night, that kind of thing. I admit, I still don't much like the look of it."

I didn't either. It seemed eerie and unnatural to have something so strange erected in such an inhospitable place. I hoped I never had to go there.

"What's a draugr?" I wondered out loud.

Hadvar actually laughed. "It's like a zombie. I forgot you were a first timer."

I took that as a compliment. Hopefully, I wouldn't encounter any draugr in my adventures. As we continued on to Riverwood, I wondered how long it had been since Hadvar had been there. He seemed to talk about it like it was a distant memory. He said 'lower level' like it was years ago, which made me also wonder how long Hadvar had been in the game.

"Hadvar, if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been in the game?"

He pursed his lips for a moment then said, "Time is difficult here. It's not the same as the real world. Days may pass in Skyrim, yet only hours may have passed in real life. But in Skyrim days, I have been here for nearly eight hundred days."

My mouth fell open. That was over two years. He probably knew so much more about this place then I had even imagined.

"So you were a beta tester?" When he nodded, I continued. "The beta test was released a few years ago. Have you been able to take off the helmet at all since then?"

"Of course," he said. "This whole 'no logout' thing is new to everybody. I've been able to take off my helmet whenever I choose, except for today, you know…"

"In case you don't know, today's the day Skyrim Online came out to the general public," I informed him.

"Actually, I didn't know that," Hadvar responded. "It seems like I've been playing this game my whole life. I hardly remember the last time I was in the real world. Would you do me a favor?"

I was taken by surprise. "Sure."

"Can you tell me what the date is?" He asked innocently.

I was kind of relieved that it was a simple thing.

"It's November 11, 2011, my friend. Skyrim Online was just released, and I was one of the first people in line to get it. I'm actually surprised the dragon freak didn't wait until a whole bunch of other people got it before launching his evil plan. To be honest, not that many people have the game."

"Maybe that's what he wanted," Hadvar said. "How are we to know the demented mind of a computer virus?"

"True, true."

Another moment of silence washed over us as we absorbed what had happened to us. If I survived this, I was going to have a great story to tell.

We approached some weird shaped rocks by the river.

"What are those things?" I asked as we drew near.

"These are the Guardian Stones, three of the thirteen ancient standing stones that dot Skyrim's landscape," Hadvar clarified. "Go ahead, see for yourself." He stopped, but motioned for me to continue up to them.

The three standing stones stood like pillars on a stone dais. I stepped up to them, and looked at them in turn. The one to my left had an engraving of a person sneaking with a knife in hand. That didn't call out to me. The stone in front of me had an old man with a staff performing magic. This one caught my attention for I had a natural skill with magic and would like to know more about it. The last standing stone depicted a steadfast warrior striking with sword and shield at the ready. The Warrior Stone was the obvious choice for me. I touched the stone, not really knowing what I was doing, and the stone shone with a great blue beam that stretched all the way to the heavens like a beacon.

"Warrior, good!" I heard Hadvar say behind me as I was distracted by the light. "I knew you shouldn't have been on that cart the moment I laid eyes on you."

I smiled and returned to his side to continue our journey. I knew all along that Hadvar never wanted me to be executed. Hearing him say it, though, made me trust him even more.

"Listen," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, you've already earned your pardon. But until we get that confirmed by General Tullius, just stay clear of other Imperial soldiers and avoid any complications, alright?" He said that with an emotion buried deep that I couldn't quite name. His words said to stay out of the way, but I think he was really implying for me to be safe. I was glad he cared.

"Me? Complications?" I joked. "Pfft. Never."

I actually got him to laugh.

"I'm glad you decided to come with me. We're almost to Riverwood," said Hadvar as we rounded a bend in the road. I was glad I had come with him too.

"Oh, look out," Hadvar warned.

I drew my bow and saw what he was talking about. Two wolves had picked up our scent and were trotting this way. I reacted quickly and fired an arrow into the hide of one of them, wounding him greatly, but not killing it. I shot again, but missed the first wolf I'd been aiming for, but I luckily hit the other one. Neither wolf died, and they were practically on top of us. I quickly back stepped a few paces to give Hadvar room to fight. He engaged the first wolf and quickly killed it with one slash. Before he could kill the second one, I fired an arrow that hit it in the side, and it fell dead.

"That's the last of them," Hadvar said as he sheathed his sword. "You're getting pretty good with that bow."

"Thanks, you're quite skilled with a sword yourself," I complimented.

"I know," he smirked. "Come on, I see Riverwood."

We walked faster with the town in sight. It was a lovely looking place. The houses were made of wood with dapper straw roofs, the sun shone brightly on the town, and many citizens were outside. Children were running around with a dog, a young man and an elderly woman stood by each other on a porch, and a young woman hauled a bundle of logs off to the mill. This place seemed unfazed by the announcement we all just got from the dragon. It was a peaceful place, and I fell in love with it at first sight. It seemed like nothing bad could happen here. A darker thought captured my mind. This place reminded me of what Helgen used to look like, the first time I entered the city. I blinked back some tears I hadn't known were bubbling up and followed Hadvar into Riverwood.

"Things look quiet enough here," said Hadvar. "Come on. There's my uncle."

We walked to the first building to the left. It was a small house with a forge attached to the side. An older man with a long beard and heavy apron was tending to the flames.

"Uncle Alvor! Hello!" Hadvar called as we got closer.

The man looked up and saw who was speaking.

"Hadvar?" He sounded completely surprised as though he hadn't seen his nephew in years. "What are you doing here? Are you on leave from…" Hadvar and I walked up the steps to the forge and Alvor got a good look at us. We must have looked really terrible because he interrupted himself. "Shor's bones, what happened to you, boy? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Hadvar was quick to try and conceal the danger. "Shh… Uncle, please. Keep your voice down. I'm fine. But we should go inside to talk."

Alvor looked scared. "What's going on? And who's this?" He looked at me for the first time.

"She's a friend," Hadvar said before I could open my mouth. "Saved my life in fact. Come on, I'll explain everything, but we need to go inside."

Alvor agreed. "Come on inside. Sigrid will get you something to eat, and you can tell us what happened."

Alvor led us into his house. It was warm inside which was a nice relief from the chilly day. A little girl was sitting on her bed reading. She smiled at me even though I probably looked pretty ragged.

"Sigrid! We have company!" Alvor spoke loudly to, I assume, his wife. She emerged from the downstairs. She caught sight of Hadvar and I standing awkwardly on her foyer.

"Hadvar! We've been so worried about you!" She sounded like my mother. "Come, you two must be hungry. Sit down, and I'll get you something to eat." I was glad she didn't make a big deal that I, a stranger, showed up unannounced at her door practically begging for food.

Hadvar and I sat gratefully at her table. Before long, we were surrounded by good smells, warm comfortability, and of course, food. Alvor and Sigrid kept a good table. There was plenty of ale and meats and cheeses to go around. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Turns out, escaping death a few times really works up an appetite. If Sigrid or Alvor were annoyed by Hadvar and my appetites, they didn't say anything. They just kept the food coming, and the wine flowing. I was only eighteen. I had never been allowed alcohol before. It seemed that all Skyrim drank was liquor. I didn't particularly like wine. It didn't taste like grape juice at all. It was kind of disappointing because it looked really nice. For some reason, the ale wasn't all that bad. I thought I'd hate ale more than wine, but it wasn't so bad once you got used to it.

When we had finished eating, Sigrid got up from the table and began to clean up and gather stuff. Alvor sighed and asked, "Now then, boy. What's this big mystery? What are you doing here, looking like you lost an argument with a cave bear? What's this announcement we heard?"

"I don't know where to start," Hadvar began. "You know I was assigned to General Tullius's guard. We were stopped at Helgen when we were attacked… by a dragon."

"A dragon?" Alvor leaned forward. "That's… ridiculous. You aren't drunk, are you boy?"

"Husband," Sigrid chided from her place by the stove. "Let him tell his story."

"Not much more to tell," Hadvar confessed. "This dragon flew over and just wrecked the whole place. Mass confusion." That was an understatement. "I don't know if anyone else got out alive. I doubt I'd have made it out myself if not for my friend here. I need to get to Solitude and let them know what's happened. I thought you could help us out. Food, supplies, a place to stay."

"Of course! Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. I'm glad to help however I can." He turned to me. "Like I said, I'm glad to help in any way I can. But I need your help. We need your help" Hadvar got up from the table to help Sigrid with some soup. Alvor continued to me, "The Jarl needs to know if there's a dragon on the loose. Riverwood is defenseless… We need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun to send whatever soldiers he can. If you'll do that for me, I'll be in your debt."

"I'll tell him," I promised. "How do I get to Whiterun?"

Alvor told me, "Cross the river and then head north. You'll see it, just past the falls. When you get to Whiterun, just keep going up. When you get to the top of the hill, you're at Dragonsreach, the Jarl's palace."

"Alright, then I'm off," I said. I got up from the table as Alvor nodded and then headed back to tend his forge. Sigrid was helping Hadvar with something, while the little girl jumped up and down.

"Hadvar, did you really see a dragon? What did it look like? Did it have big teeth?"

"Hush child, don't pester your cousin," her mother scolded.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I just kept sitting there, pretending to be occupied by the bottle of ale.

"Dear," Sigrid said. I was startled to see she was talking to me. "Do take off that helmet, and go over there and get a little rest before you go, would you?"

I stood and took off my Imperial Light Helmet. "Yes, ma'am."

I walked over to one of the beds and sat in it. I was really tired, but I didn't think I could sleep, even here. The little girl came over and sat by me on the bed.

"I'm Dorthe," she said with a smile and offered her arm as warriors do. I thought it was cute and accepted the shake. "What's your name?"

"Falena," I answered.

"That's pretty. I wish my name was more interesting, like Emerald or Sapphire. I like to work in the forge with my pa, ya know. I'm going to be the best blacksmith ever," she explained. She talked so sure of herself, and she seemed very mature for her age.

"Really?" I asked, actually interested.

"Oh yes, I can already make iron daggers and hide helmets. Father says I'm very good, but mother doesn't like it. She wants me to be more girly. I don't want to, though. I wanna be tough, like you! Did you see the dragon?" She was bouncing in her seat.

"Aye, I saw the dragon," I said truthfully.

"What was it like? Was it really big? Was it scary? Did it have big teeth?" She bombarded.

"Uh… It was black and covered in horns. It was really big and had big teeth. It really was scary. If you ever see a dragon, you have to run away as fast as you can. Do you hear me? Don't stop for anything," I ordered her.

"Okay, I will," she said.

"Dorthe," Sigrid called. "Could you help me with something downstairs?"

"Okay ma," Dorthe and Sigrid left the room, leaving me and Hadvar alone in their house.

I wanted to close my eyes and try to sleep, but we had a mission ahead of us.

"Ready, Hadvar?" I got up and re-laced my boots.

"Listen," he started, "I'm going to lay up here for a while. You can make your own way to Solitude from here."

"You're not coming to Whiterun with me?" I asked.

"I've got to get to Solitude and tell the General."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, we'll see each other again in Solitude," Hadvar promised.

I was really sad, but I tried not to show it. How was I going to survive out there without a friendly face? I sighed and put on my helmet again. I grabbed my bow from its place on the bedpost and started out the door. Just before I could leave, Sigrid came up the stairs with a small bundle in hand.

"Here dear, take this," she said and handed me the satchel. "It's just a few essentials, food for a few days, a potion or two, oh and a few picks and ingots. I hope it helps."

"You are too generous," I said as I accepted the gift. "Thank you, all of you." I ruffled Dorthe's hair and she giggled.

"If you ever need your sword sharpened, you know who to call," Dorthe told me.

"Then I guess I'll be seeing you then," I supposed. "Good luck, Hadvar."

"Good luck," he called to me. "And be careful!"

* * *

I was lonely by the time the door to Alvor and Sigrid's house closed. I tried to swallow it down and keep moving. By the time I crossed the bridge out of town, I was no longer upset. I understood Hadvar had a duty to the Empire, as it was my job to get to Whiterun.

I scared a flock of birds from a tree as I took a right at the end of the bridge. I wondered how big this new world was. It seemed enormous. I was kind of excited to be able to do whatever I wanted. When I was done delivering this message, I was a free woman. I could do as I see fit in Skyrim. If the whole 'stuck in here until we beat the game' thing wasn't hanging over my head, I would be having the time of my life.

The Skyrim countryside was beautiful. I was walking along the cobblestone road past the falls that Alvor had told me about, when I met my first opponent.

The wolf's howl made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I didn't even see it. I notched an arrow anyway, just in case it decided to attack. Sure enough, I found the wolf lurking behind some boulders. I fired an arrow at it, and it struck its shoulder. The beast hesitated for a moment, but then launched at me with its mouth wide open. It chomped down on my arm and prevented me from notching another arrow. I gave a grunt of pain and bashed my bow into the side of the wolf's head. It released me and gave a pained yowl. It gave me just enough time to fire another arrow into its head.

The wound on my forearm wasn't too bad, thank Talos. I wasn't sure what Talos was, but I heard people say it, so I wanted to say it too. I resumed my journey to Whiterun while I stopped the bleeding. I kind of liked all my new scars. I had a nice cut along my chest which had healed pretty well, as well as three arrow wounds; I had one in the shoulder, the hip, and my left shin. I felt pretty bad-ass.

After I passed the falls, I could see the plains stretched out below me. The mountains had made quite the large valley, and in that valley was a wide open plain. The city of Whiterun stood on the largest hill in the whole place. It really stood out. Whiterun looked much bigger than I had previously anticipated. I could see the Jarl's large palace from miles away, literally. I was thankful that Sigrid had packed me some provisions because judging by the size of the plains before me, this world was enormous and difficult to live in. I shook my head and descended the rest of the hill and into the plains.

* * *

I had not expected the giant.

I was just passing a modest-looking meadery and then a farm, when suddenly I noticed three people fighting what looked like a twelve foot tall raggedy old man. It had to be a giant.

Before I could stop myself, I put two arrows in the monstrosity to try and help the three warriors. I didn't pause to question whether they were friends or foes. I didn't want anyone else to die.

The giant died very quickly, and I ran up to see if everyone was okay. I was approached by a strong-looking woman with reddish hair and green face paint.

"You handle yourself well," she praised in a confident voice. "You could make for a decent Shield-Sister."

I was confused. "What's a Shield-Sister?"

"An outsider, eh?" I wasn't sure if she approved or not. I nodded, and she continued. "Never heard of the Companions?"

"No, I haven't," I said, though I was interested. I looked at her two friends. They looked tough, and I bet they could take out a dragon. They could be good friends to have.

"We're an order of warriors. We are brothers and sisters in honor. And we show up to solve problems if the coin is good enough," the Companion said. That seemed like a pretty good gig, though I wasn't sure if doing things for coin was exactly honorable. However, I was a warrior, and I bet these folks could set me on the right path.

"Could I join you?" I wondered out loud.

"Not for me to say," she replied. "You'll have to talk to Kodlak Whitemane up in Jorrvaskr. The old man's got a good sense for people. He can look in your eyes and tell your worth. If you go to him, good luck." With that, she turned tail and slowly walked away with her friends.

They seemed really nice. I couldn't wait to talk to this Kodlak Whitemane. I hoped I was worth something to him because I didn't want to fail at being a warrior.

I walked up the winding path to the Whiterun gates. When I got there, the gates were closed, and a guard came up to me.

"Halt," he declared. "City's closed with the dragons about. Official business only."

"I'm here about the dragon attacks," I persuaded. "I was at Helgen."

"Alright, but we'll be watching you." He let me pass, and I walked into Whiterun.


	4. Oooooohhhh, the Claw!

**CHAPTER FOUR:** Oooooohhhh, the Claw!

The city of Whiterun was a lot better than Riverwood. It had walls all around it, so I didn't feel like I was about to be attacked at every moment. The houses were built better too, and I wasn't worried they'd catch fire as easily as the huts in Riverwood.

I walked across a little bridge over a stream and passed two people who were arguing about swords. I passed a lot of cute little houses, then a bustling marketplace, and then up a flight of stairs, until I stood at the base of a majestic tree. The tree was grand, but it would have been better if it wasn't dead. It made me sad.

I looked around. There were a lot of big buildings around me on this level. The lower level had been made of mostly small businesses, but this next level was mostly big houses and other things. I couldn't tell what was inside the buildings around me. There was a beautiful building to my left which reminded me of a church. There was a sturdy noble building up a flight of stairs that looked really cool, and I was most interested in what could be in there. I could hear voices and clashing of steel coming from within.

Though I wanted to go into the hall, I had a quest at hand. I looked up at the largest keep I had ever seen. The Jarl's palace towered over the rest of the city. It was at the top of the hill, and it was impossibly tall. No wonder they called it Dragonsreach.

I took to the stairs quickly, so I could tell the Jarl what he needed to know so I could continue on my path to the Companions. I made it to the top of the stairs and crossed the bridge to the large oak doors. There were plenty of guards everywhere. I think they left me alone because I was dressed in Imperial armor, and I was walking fast and confidently like I knew what I was doing.

The inside of the Jarl's palace was just as pristine and gigantic as the outside. It made me wonder if he was compensating for something. The ceilings were so high that it felt like I was in the Hogwarts Great Hall. I walked up the stairs and saw the Jarl on his throne behind a roaring fire. He was talking with many noblemen. I was nervous and warily approached. I walked past two long tables covered in food, and a person talking to the Jarl caught sight of me. They drew their sword and stalked towards me.

As the person drew nearer, I noticed they weren't human. They had dark greyish skin, but still looked healthy. Her hair shifted and I noticed pointed ears. She was an elf, but was she sick? Was her skin all tattooed? Why was she a weird color?

"What is the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors," she warned me with her sword pointed at my gut.

"I have news from Helgen. About the dragon attack," I told her. I really hoped she wouldn't skewer me.

"Well, that explains why the guards let you in," she said. "Come, the Jarl will want to speak with you personally." She sheathed her sword, and I followed her to where the Jarl sat. He stopped talking with his other advisers and gave the elf his full attention. She announced me to him.

"So. You were at Helgen? You saw this dragon with your own eyes?" He asked. He looked concerned, but he was reclining pretty relaxed in his throne, so I kind of wondered if he really cared. How could one player become a Jarl anyway?

"Yes," I answered. "The dragon destroyed Helgen. And last I saw it was heading this way."

"By Ysmir, Irileth was right!" The Jarl exclaimed. I wondered how long he had been Jarl. Balgruuf turned to one of his advisers. "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

The elf, Irileth, spoke up before Proventus the adviser could.

"My lord, we should send troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon is lurking in the mountains…"

Proventus starting protesting. He seemed a cowardly man to me. "The Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him."

"Enough!" Balgruuf bellowed. "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once."

"Yes, my Jarl," she said and walked away hastily.

"We should not…" Proventus tried again.

Balgruuf would not stand for it. "I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my hold and slaughters my people!" Jarl Balgruuf seemed like a good leader.

Proventus looked down at his feet and said, "If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my duties."

"That would be best," The Jarl dismissed. Proventus slunk away, and Balgruuf turned to me. "Well done. You sought me out, on your own initiative. You've done Whiterun a service, and I won't forget it. Here, take this as a small token of my esteem." He passed me some Studded Imperial Armor.

"Thank you, my Jarl." I accepted the armor from him.

"There is another thing you could do for me. Suitable for someone of your particular talents, perhaps," the Jarl suggested. I was surprised. The Jarl had a ton of men; why would he need me? I wanted to be a Companion, not the Jarl's attack dog. However, I couldn't let a cry for help go unanswered, especially one from the Jarl.

"What do you have in mind, my Lord?" I wondered.

"Come," he stood and began to walk to another room. I followed closely. "Let's go and find Farengar, my court wizard. He's been looking into a matter related to these dragons and… rumors of dragons."

Balgruuf led me to a smaller room to the right. There were tables all around the room covered in tomes and scrolls. A bunch of strange gems and other magic items were strewn everywhere. I was really excited to possibly learn more about magic. A man dressed in long robes was hunched over a book as we entered. He seemed very engrossed in his work.

"Farengar," the Jarl gained his attention. "I think I've found someone who can help you with your dragon project. Go ahead and fill her in with all the details." With that, the esteemed Jarl of Whiterun left us to it.

The wizard looked up from his tome and looked me up and down like an art critic does to find the value of a piece. This wizard wasn't like I thought he'd be. When Balgruuf said wizard, I imagined an old man like Gandalf or Dumbledore, but Farengar was young. He was only a little older then me, and he had red hair and a small beard. Apparently, I needed to stop stereotyping wizards.

"So," Farengar began, "the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me." I wasn't too excited at this point. It sounded like a possible waste of time, but the Jarl had asked me, so I was going to do it. Farengar continued, "Well, when I say fetch, I really mean dive into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."

Lovely. Just peachy. I loved the idea of going on dangerous quests to fetch things that might not even exist. Whatever, I was just going to check it out and come back, no problem.

"Alright, where am I going and what am I fetching?" I asked as I clapped my hands together once.

Farengar laughed. "Straight to the point, eh? No need for tedious hows and whys. I like that. Leave those details to your betters, am I right?" I didn't really consider this player my better, but whatever. "I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow- a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet- no doubt interred in the main chamber- and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

"Alright," I said and left the room. I already knew where I had to go, so what's the point of staying any longer? I was also nervous about going to the ruin that freaked Hadvar out.

I walked out of Dragonsreach and down the main steps back to the tree. I really wondered why this tree was here. What's the point of keeping a dead tree around? A woman sitting on a bench under the tree caught me staring at it.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" She asked me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "What's with the tree?"

She answered, "This is the Gildergreen. It was planted as a seedling in the early years of Whiterun. Disciples of Kynareth could sense something holy in it, and traveled far to hear the winds of the goddess in the branches. They built the temple." She gestured to the building which had reminded me of a church. "Of course, not as many pilgrims these days."

She sounded so sad. I asked if there was anything we could do.

"To the east of here is a hidden grove where the Eldergleam resides. It's the oldest living thing in Skyrim. Maybe all of Tamriel," she informed me. "Our tree here in the city was grown from a cutting of that tree. You can still feel the glory of the mother tree through it."

"Hmm, is there any way to revive it?" I asked.

"I've thought about that..." She said. "Trees like this never really die. They only slumber. I think if we had some of the sap from the parent tree, we could wake up its child. But even if you could get to the Eldergleam, you couldn't tap it. Not with any normal metal."

"What would you need?"

"Eldergleam is older than metal, from a time before men or elves. To even affect it, you have to tap into the old magic. You'll have to deal with the Hagravens," she advised. I had no idea what a Hagraven was, but my mind imagined an ugly woman with bird wings, kind of like a harpy. Skyrim was a lot bigger than I had known. "I've heard about a weapon they've made for sacrificing Spriggans. It's called Nettlebane." What's a Spriggan? I was so confused, but I did not interrupt her. "The hags terrify me, or I would have gone after it myself," she finished.

I had more questions than answers, but this was another cry for help, and I would answer it.

"I'll get Nettlebane for you," I promised.

She beamed. "Your spirit is strong. Kynareth's winds will guide your path. It's held in a Hagraven nest called Orphan Rock."

We parted ways, and I continued to the gates. I still had to get back to Riverwood. The sun would go down soon, and I needed some place to rest. I was exhausted. The walk back to Riverwood was uneventful. By the time I got there, the sun had almost set. I decided it would be foolish of me to travel at night, so I wandered into the nearest inn.

It was nice and warm in the inn, and I breathed a sigh of relief as it had gotten a bit cold outside. I shook off the cold and sat down at the bar.

"Welcome to the Sleeping Giant inn," said a less than enthusiastic barkeep. "We got cold drinks and hot food. Which can I get ya?"

"I'll take an ale and a venison chop."

"Here ya go," he passed the meal to me and held out his hand. "10 septims."

I gave him the money and started to eat. This barkeep was a terrible cook by the way, but thank the gods my ale was good.

"I'm going to need a room," I told the barkeep.

"10 septims, and it's yours for a day," he drawled. I gave him another ten septims, and he led me to my room. When he left me alone, I took off my cuirass and put it in the dresser. I would sell it to Alvor tomorrow morning because Balgruuf had given me a new and better one. I fell back onto the bed. It was nice to finally relax. I fell asleep easily without a single dream.

* * *

I woke up slowly. It was so nice to sleep in on Saturdays. I rolled over to my side to turn my iPod on shuffle, when I noticed that I didn't have my iPod. I was also on a straw bed. Wait, that wasn't mine! I panicked and fell out of bed, knocking over the nightstand.

"Ugh," I grumbled, rubbing my head.

I took a look around the room. I had forgotten I was in Skyrim. I sighed and got up off the floor and picked up the nightstand. I remade the bed and then picked my weapons up from underneath. I was disappointed that all this hadn't been a dream. I really missed my home. I wondered if my family knew what was going on by now. Alduin had said that the news could see what was happening in the game, so I wondered who they were watching. Was it me? Was it the Dragonborn? Was it everyone? I finally understood the book _The Hunger Games_ more than I ever wanted to. This must be how Katniss felt in the games. I swore right when I got home, I was burning that book.

I wolfed down one of the pieces of bread that Sigrid had packed me, eager to get my journey started. I left the inn at eight a.m. sharp. Riverwood was bustling, just like the day before. I saw Alvor and Dorthe at the forge, I saw a kid playing with a dog, and a drunkard stumbling around.

Across the road from Alvor's house, was a large, two story building with a sign hanging above the door. It read "THE RIVERWOOD TRADER". I figured they might have some supplies I could use, so I walked into the shop.

"Well one of us has to do something!" A young woman exclaimed to the man behind the counter.

One foot in the place, and there was already a fight breaking out. The shop was undoubtedly run by the man behind the counter. I couldn't tell who the woman was, maybe his wife or friend. He had a high voice and spoke lively, just as a businessman should. The shop itself was lit by a single fire place. There was a stew cooking on the fire, and it filled the store with the scent of meat and potatoes. There was plenty of merchandise on shelves behind the counter. I saw green, blue, and red potions in bottles, big cheese wheels the size of microwaves, and iron weapons and armor galore. The countertop the man was standing at was covered mostly in weapons, but also had loose coins dotting the surface. The only clear place was directly in the center of the table. It seemed that something was missing.

"We are done talking about this," the business owner said to the woman. He had a strange accent. It wasn't like the Nords who all seemed to talk like vikings. It was more croaky, like he had a lot of mucus in his throat.

The woman wouldn't let it go, "Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!"

They hadn't noticed me standing in the doorway, unsure if I should go in.

"I said no!" He persisted. "No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!"

So they were robbed? That explained the one bare spot on the countertop.

"Oh, a customer," the businessman said. He sounded ashamed. "Sorry you had to hear that. Welcome to the Riverwood Trader, traveler. I'm Lucan Valerius, and this is my sister Camilla."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Falena." I walked up to the counter and asked, "Did something happen?"

The man, Lucan, rubbed his head and mumbled, "Yes, we did have a bit of a… break-in." He tried to cover up his distress by perking up and pretending nothing was wrong. "But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing."

"What was it?" I questioned him.

"An ornament," Lucan informed. "Solid gold in the shape of a dragon's claw."

"I could look for it for you," I offered. Once again, I was unable to keep from helping others.

Lucan perked up right away and looked at me like I had offered him a thousand septims. "You could? I've got some gold coming in from my last shipment. It's yours if you bring my claw back."

"Alright, I'll head out right away," I said. I had looked at his supplies, and they were really expensive. I didn't have a lot of gold, so I would just have to make due with the gear I had. I did sell him my old cuirass, though.

"If you're going after those thieves, you should head to Bleak Falls Barrow, northeast of town," Lucan told me. So, another person was sending me to Bleak Falls? That couldn't be a coincidence. Something was definitely going on there, and I was going to find out what it was.

Just as I was about to say my goodbyes, Lucan's sister, Camilla spoke up. "So this is your plan, Lucan?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "So now you don't have to go, do you?"

"Oh really? Well I think your new helper needs a guide," she said and stood up from her place by the fire.

I really didn't want anyone to come with me, especially someone like Camilla. I wasn't sure she'd be able to delve into an ancient ruin with me. There seemed no talking Camilla out of anything though, so I said nothing.

Lucan was flustered and finally gave up. "Wh-no… I… Oh, by the Eight, fine. But only to the edge of town!"

She walked to the door and stepped out confidently, leaving her brother smoldering behind his counter. I followed her. I was relieved that she wouldn't be going all the way to Bleak Falls with me. I didn't want her to get hurt or slow me down.

We stood outside for a moment, enjoying the sun. I just wanted to go and be done with it because Camilla was wasting time, but I didn't want to upset her, so I waited patiently.

"Those thieves must be mad, hiding out there," she told me as we stood outside the shop. "Those old crypts are filled with nothing but traps, trolls, and who knows what else!" I was getting a little nervous about going to the Barrow after hearing about traps and trolls. I didn't know what either looked like. "I wonder why they only stole Lucan's golden claw. I mean, we have plenty of things in the shop that are worth just as much coin. Lucan found the claw about a year after he opened the store. He never quite explained where he got it. He's a tricky one."

I had wondered that too. Why break into a shop to steal one thing? There was a lot of spendy stuff in there worth more than one ornament. Whatever the reason the bandits took the claw, I was pretty sure it had something to do with Bleak Falls itself. It was too odd that the crooks took it where I was headed.

Camilla pointed up to the mountain at the dark ruins overlooking the city. "We have to go through town and across the bridge to get to Bleak Falls Barrow. You can see it from here, though. The mountain just over the buildings." I knew all this of course. Hadvar had already pointed it out, but I let her tell me anyway.

She began to walk slowly through town with me at her side. I was beginning to get impatient to be off. We finally made it to the bridge that I took the day before to Whiterun. At the end of the bridge lay the stone path that led right to Whiterun. I hadn't noticed that there was not one, but two paths at the end of the bridge. There was a small dirt path to the left that led up the mountain.

I left Camilla at the bridge, eager to continue. She headed back to her brother, and I headed for Bleak Falls Barrow.

* * *

The walk up the mountain was simple enough. The path was easy to follow, and the slope wasn't too steep. The only obstacle I had faced was a single wolf, which I easily killed with two arrows. A little while after that, I got up high enough that it began to snow. I got cold. Imperial armor was not that great at keeping me warm at all. An hour of travel passed, and I was now crouched behind some boulders, looking at what appeared to be a bandit's camp.

The bandit's camp was a rundown tower. It was made of dark grey stone, and it seemed lopsided and unstable. I saw a guard posted outside, leaning on a tree. I bet they didn't get a lot of action way up here. Who in their right mind would want to climb a mountain with a crypt on it? As I watched the bandit, I saw another one join the first. I wondered how many were in there. There was no way I could get passed the tower and up the rest of the mountain without being seen by the two thugs. I'd have to take them out. I tried not to think about the fact that they were players too, and they just wanted to live.

I took my bow off my back and strung it. I aimed an arrow at the first bandit's chest. The snow and the wind made it hard to see her, plus it was so cold that my hands felt like they'd freeze off.

I released the string, and the arrow connected with the bandit's shoulder, a little off course. The bandit must have gotten shot before, because she didn't even bat an eye as she started to look for me. Her friend helped her out. I was able to shoot one more arrow before they found me. I shot the same woman in the leg this time. It would probably take one more to take her down, but this arrow made her stumble. Her friend caught sight of me and drew his sword.

"Ha! Found you!" He exclaimed and ran at me.

I was quick to draw my greatsword and parried his first strike. He was surprised that I blocked his blow, so he was taken aback by my kick as well. The kick hit him in the knee, and he staggered. I took advantage of his hesitation by delivering a fatal chop to the top of his head.

Right as he died, the female bandit regained her composure and started launching arrows of her own at me. The first on missed, but the second found its home in my wrist. It hurt, and it would hinder my swordplay, but I kept on. The woman panicked as I got close. She didn't have time to draw her knife before I ran her through.

I pulled my sword out of her and cleaned the blood off in the snow. I grit my teeth and pulled the arrow out of my wrist by snapping off the tail and pushing the rest through. It was quite painful, and I bit my lip and broke skin. I tried to do magic to heal it, but it just wouldn't come to me like it had before, so I wrapped the wound up in a bit of cloth from the dead bandit's quiver. I also took the rest of her arrows.

The other bandit had some gold and some more lockpicks. The tower stood before me, and I hoped that these were the bandits that had taken Lucan's golden claw. I walked into the tower quietly. The room I was in was very small, only about ten feet wide. I prayed that no one else was here. I took the stairs up to the next level after I deemed that the small first floor was empty. The second story was just as small, but offered a few more things: food, drink, and a potion or two. I was just about to bag the last piece of bread, when I heard a voice exclaim, "Now ain't this a surprise?"

I looked up above me and noticed that there was a third story to the tower. The floor was mostly ripped open, so I could see right into the next level. A bandit stood there, pulling out a mace. He was wearing some really big armor that I hadn't seen before. This was going to be tough.

I grabbed my sword as the bandit rushed down the wooden stairs to meet me in combat. He brought his mace up in an arc to come down on my head, but I was ready and blocked it with my sword. That threw him for a moment, so I took the opportunity to swing at him. I landed a strike to his side. The blow may have been fatal to other people, but this man was wearing a thick iron armor, so I just left a big dent. I might have bruised his ribs at the worst.

The bandit retaliated with a blow to my gut. I got knocked back a few feet and dropped my sword as I fell on my butt. The wind had been knocked out of me, but I got up on my hands and knees to try to get my breath back. This was the first time I'd ever gotten the wind knocked out of me, so I was terrified. I was puffing and gasping like a fish out of water, when I noticed the bandit marching over to me with his mace raised to strike. Oh crap, oh crap, get up! I couldn't get up in time and the mace nearly took my head off. Thank the gods that I rolled out of the way first.

The bandit was surprised that I had kept a level head and rolled out of the way. His mace struck empty floor. By some miracle, I regained my breath and slashed at his head. He dodged most of it, but I still landed a small scrape along his cheek. He growled a curse and swung at me, aiming for my chest. I blocked the blow narrowly, and then I bashed hit in the chest with the hilt of my sword. It proved super effective, and he staggered back a step. That gave me just enough time to deliver two mighty swings to finish him off: one to the dent in the side of his armor, and another to the neck. The bandit's body fell to the ground with a clang.

I stood over his body for a moment, and I tried to feel sad. I wasn't though, and that shocked me. I had just murdered a man. I should feel terrible, but I didn't. I felt good, and that sickened me. I was surviving, but the only reason I was surviving was because I was killing people. I wondered briefly if people were watching this on their televisions at home. I wondered if this person's family just watched me cut him down. I watched as more blood pooled around the body. I couldn't help it. I threw up.

* * *

I took the iron armor off the bandit.

"Sorry," I apologized as clumsily stripped him of his armor.

The dent was larger than I had anticipated. I tried to put the armor on, but it didn't fit. The bandit was larger than me, so I must have really done some damage. I stared at the dented metal for some time before I found a solution. I smashed the hilt of my greatsword into the backside of the armor as hard as I could. The metal jut out almost back to its original shape. A few more strikes, and the metal was looking better. I'd have to take it to Alvor to make it perfect again.

I put on the iron armor and was not happy about it. I did not like heavy armor. It was heavy and restricting. I had no idea how I'd be able to fight in this. It wasn't any warmer either. A quick look around the rest of the tower proved that there was no golden claw here. I was a bit disappointed, but I was pretty sure I'd find it in the crypt.

I left the bandit's tower in a hurry. I wanted to get to Bleak Falls Barrow as soon as possible because I was cold. I kept on the path and soon found myself rounding a corner and getting my first good look at the Nordic ruins.

I was at the base of a stone staircase that led up to the temple. The whole thing was covered in gray arches with stone dragon heads as decoration at the tops. The ruins seemed to pulse with an unnatural aura that made me want to turn around and go home. The stone work was eerie and creeped me out. Looking at the ruins was like looking at a dead body: scary, uncomfortable, still, and made you want to look away. I finally understood why Hadvar didn't like the look of this place. It seemed like a zombie would wander out at any moment. Nevertheless, I had to continue on. A lot of people were counting on me.

I had just begun up the steps, when I heard a noise like a plink by my feet and paused. It was an arrow. Without looking around to see where it was coming from, I dashed up the remaining steps and hid behind a stone column.

"Whatcha gonna do? Huh? Whatcha gonna do?" A male bandit taunted me as I hid. He began to approach. I didn't dare break cover. If that archer behind me got a clear shot, it would be curtains for me.

I quickly switched weapons to my bow and notched an arrow. I caught sight of the male bandit sneaking up on me. I fired an arrow at his head, and it struck him. He screamed and flailed backwards. His axe fell to the ground. I shot again and finished him off. I was a little apologetic that my first shot hadn't killed him. It seemed a terrible way to go, an arrow to the head that doesn't kill until another arrow finds the same place.

The bandit's scream had caught the attention of the archer, and she looked over at him. While she was distracted, I fired an arrow at her. The wind caught my arrow though, and I missed my intended target, her head. I did hit her arm, and she dropped her bow. I took advantage of her mistake and shot her two more times until she stopped moving and fell dead.

I slowly emerged from cover and looked around to make sure there were no more bandits, all the while keeping my bow at the ready. When I declared that there were no more, I shouldered my bow and checked the bodies. The man with the arrows for eyes had some gold. The archer had a hunting bow. I took it from her and placed my longbow on the ground. I pulled back on the bowstring to test it out. It was much easier to draw back the hunting bow than my old one. I believe it was because of the curved design of the hunting bow. I would be able to draw the bow much faster and have a much deadlier shot. I scooped up the bandit's arrows as well and stood before the large metal doors of Bleak Falls Barrow.

If I thought that the ruins looked intimidating, they were nothing compared to the doors. Before me stood two metal doors that were easily fifteen feet tall. The iron handles were bigger than my head. The most amazing part of the doors however, were the intricate metalwork and designs covering every inch of them. I couldn't tell what the designs were, but they were pretty. They may have been dragons or people.

I didn't dally too long on the doors because I still had a job to do. I gripped one of the cold metal door handles and door was hard to open because it was so heavy, but it was easier than I had thought it would be. I opened the door just enough for me to squeeze inside. When I had gotten in, I released the door, and it quickly shut with a final resounding thud. I was staring into the darkness of Bleak Falls Barrow.


	5. Fantastical Tablets and Where to Find Em

**Hey ya'll! Just wanted to apologize for being gone so long. I was away for work for 3 months! (If you thought your job was bad) Anyway, it's great to be back and writing for you all. I wanna thank you for taking the time to read my work and follow and favorite me. It truly means a lot. I hope and pray you stay with me for this journey cause I really can't make it without my beautiful readers. So I'll shut my face and get on with the good stuff.**

 **With Love,**

 **LaraCrofttheDragonborn**

 **CHAPTER FIVE:** Fantastical Tablets and Where to Find Them

Well, so far I wasn't too fond of crypts.

"Eww…" I grumbled as I kicked a giant dead rat out of the way.

The first room was large. It's ceiling sloped upward, and it made me a little nervous. It seemed dangerous to have something so old built so dramatically. I was afraid it would come down on my head at any moment.

The light was dim in the chamber. The only source was a fire on the far side of the room. I heard voices coming from that way, but I couldn't see who they belonged to from here because of the stone pillars in the way.

I crept past a dead body and a few large dead rats to see if I could sneak up on the people by the fire.

"So we're just supposed to sit here while Arvel runs off with the golden claw?" A woman asked. The golden claw? I breathed a sigh of relief; at least it was here. I was hiding behind a great stone column directly behind the fire. The voices were coming just from the other side. I would have to get past them, and there was no way to get past them without them noticing. I'd have to kill them. I waited first, to see if they'd leave or say more relevant information about the claw.

A man answered the woman, "That dark elf wants to go ahead, let him. Better than us risking our necks."

"What if Arvel doesn't come back?," The woman insisted. "I want my share from that claw!"

"Just shut it and keep an eye out for trouble," the man dismissed, and then they were silent.

Well, it's my big moment. I snuck around the corner and shot the woman in the chest. She fell back, but didn't die. The man swore and grabbed his battleaxe. He made a wild swing at me, but I stepped back to avoid it. I quickly switched to my greatsword and blocked his next strike. He was strong, so his blow caused me to stagger. I regained my footing and bashed him with the hilt of my sword because that had proved to be effective in my last fight. It worked again this time, and he staggered, giving me enough time to plunge my sword into his chest.

The other bandit had pulled out a bow and started firing at me. I was getting sick of archers. One of her shots grazed my helmet and I was surprised. That could have been bad if it was a few inches to the right.

I ran at her to make sure she didn't have enough time to reload. One sword swing and she was dead in a second.

I swiftly looted the bodies. I got more gold, lockpicks, and arrows. I tried not to think about the fact that I totally just murdered people. Maybe if I didn't think about it, it wouldn't bother me. I dragged the bodies away from the fire, so I could enjoy a quick meal. I sat on a bed roll and ate an apple and some bread. After washing it all down with some ale, I got to my feet. There was a chest to my right that I picked open. I found more picks, arrows, and potions. These would be helpful I thought.

I shouldered my gear and entered what looked like a tunnel. The tunnel was exactly like you'd expect to find in a crypt: dusty, foul-smelling, and covered in spiderwebs. I walked through spider webs and shivered as I hastily brushed them off me. I hate spiders.

The passage was winding and long. I kept sneaking around for I had no idea when something might jump out at me. Hadvar had warned me about draugr, and I really didn't want to meet one of those things. The whole place made me jumpy; it felt like I was being watched.

After a while of sneaking, I was sweaty and crazy jittery. I still had seen nobody. Was Farengar sure that this Dragonstone thing was in here? It seemed pretty empty to me.

Just as I thought that, I came around a corner and was faced with a slope. At the bottom, there was a room with a bandit in it. He was holding a torch with his back to me. I was going to shoot him and be done with it, but then he started walking away, so I decided to watch him instead. He might have the claw.

I crept down the steps to get a better look. The bandit walked up to a closed gate. He tried to open it by pulling a lever, but the moment he pulled it, darts flew out from nowhere and stuck him. He was dead instantly.

After staring at his body in shock for a few breaths, I got the courage to have a look for myself. I stood up and entered the room. The closed gate lay before me along with a big lever in front of it. To my left were three strange stone figures that looked very similar to the Standing Stones Hadvar had shown me. The only difference was that these stones had animals depicted on them. The ones on either side had an eagle on them, while the one in the middle had a whale. I walked up to them to get a closer look. The one with the whale was kind of dusty, so I casually scraped it off. To my surprise, the stone rotated to reveal a snake on the other side. I flipped it again and saw an eagle. All three of the stones had all three figures on them. I thought it was pretty obvious what I had to do next. I had to turn these stones to the right animals, and then pull the lever and I could go through. Which ones were correct though?

I took a step away from the columns to think. Had I seen any animals on my way here? Only a few wolves, and they weren't a choice. I took a look around the room to see if there were any clues. I found that there were stairs by the gate that led to two pictures, both were snakes. So, two of the pillars should be snakes, but which ones? I also noticed one picture of a whale near the lever that opened the gate. The only reason I hadn't noticed it before was because the body of the bandit was sprawled across it.

I turned the first two pillars to snakes, and I turned the last one to a whale. I had no idea if this was correct, but I took a chance, held my breath, and pulled the lever. I was happily surprised that I didn't die, and the gate opened.

"Okay, that wasn't so hard," I breathed as I walked into the next room. In that room, I found a book about pickpocketing. I wasn't planning on pickpocketing anyone ever, but then again I never thought I'd be sneaking around a crypt, so I took the book for future reference.

I located a spiral staircase leading farther down into the crypt. I snuck down quietly, but not quietly enough. I heard sniffing and scratching coming from ahead of me. I wondered what could make that noise, but I would soon found out.

A large rat, easily the size of a schnauzer jumped at me. I screamed and nearly dropped my sword down the stairs. The wretched little thing bit me and tore a good chunk of leather and skin from my leg. I kicked the vermin like a football, and it went flying down the stairs and died on impact. Unfortunately, that wasn't the last of them, two more swarmed up the stairs to avenge their fallen comrade.

I was ready for them this time, however, they were fast and harder to hit then people, especially with a greatsword. I swung many times and comically only hit air. I was glad these rats things weren't that tough.

When they were dead, I strode into the small passageway they were protecting. I found a potion in a small black bottle on a table. It was marked "Weak Paralysis Potion". I put it in my satchel; it may come in handy.

I continued down the passageway, and noticed that it was getting more and more spiderwebby. Thick webs covered the path, and soon the walls and floors were covered in it. I avoided touching anything. All these webs everywhere brought back the horrifying memories of those giant spiders with Hadvar. I prayed to the gods that I wouldn't have to encounter anymore of those creatures.

Suddenly, a distant voice called out from up ahead, "Is… is someone coming?"

I didn't answer because I wasn't sure if he was calling to me or not.

He called out again, "Is that you, Harknir? Bjorn? Soling? I know I ran ahead with the claw, but I need help!"

I decided to investigate. I cautiously followed the voice until I found where it was coming from. There was a doorway that was covered by webbing so thick, I could literally cut it with a knife, and that's what I did. It took two swings of the greatsword to clear the doorway of spider webs. The voice was coming from inside.

I entered the chamber and stood up. I could see a man cocooned in a spider web like a fly.

"Hey, over here! Help!" He shouted at me. Unfortunately, his shouting caught the attention of something else.

The biggest spider I've ever seen descended from a hole in the ceiling. It was larger than an SUV and angrier than a hornet. I quickly grabbed my bow and notched an arrow.

"Ah, kill it. Kill it!" The bandit screamed and tried to writhe free of his bonds.

The spider landed on the floor in front of me with a strange elegance. For a moment I got a good look at it. It's eight large legs were thick yet graceful and covered in coarse hair. The beast was reddish in color. All eight eyes were black and beady and all focused on me standing before it with my bow in hand. The spider's two meaty pincers leaked venom like drool that fell slowly to the floor. This thing was like the tarantula from Hell.

When I got over my initial terror, I flew into action. I had already dipped an arrow in the poison I had found. I had figured whatever was behind the cobwebs would be bad. Man was I right. I launched my arrow at the spider and struck it right in the forehead. As predicted, the beast was paralysed, but only for a moment.

I took that opportunity to run at the spider with my greatsword. I was vaguely aware of the bandit screaming bloody murder during all of this. I slashed savagely at its head and landed what should have been a fatal blow. For some reason, the monstrosity was still alive. The poison wore off, and the spider lunged at me suddenly. It bit me in the shoulder and I could feel its venom in my skin, draining me. One bite almost killed me. I couldn't afford for it to land another.

With all my remaining strength, I rolled to the right and struck one of the spider's legs. The spider was caught unaware and fell on its side. That gave me an opening to jam my sword it the arachnid's head and kill it.

When it was all said and done, I fell to one knee to try and catch my breath. My sword still jutt out of the spider's head like a toothpick in a large sandwich. Sorry about the food analogy; I was very hungry at the time. Turns out, you really work up an appetite killing giant spiders.

"Is it safe now?" I heard the bandit ask me.

I didn't answer him. I looked at my shoulder wound. The bite had been poisoned, but it seemed to have run its course. I was feeling better by the moment. I stood up, a bit shakily, and gripped my sword and heaved it out of the carcass slowly. It was covered in black blood. I hastily wiped it off on my pants and sheathed it.

I was about to head over to the bandit, when I got an idea. The spider had used venom to poison me, so why don't I take some of the venom for my arrows? I thought it was a great plan. I knelt in front of the spider's head and took out the small black potion bottle that had previously had paralysis potion in it. I placed the empty bottle under one of the pincers and extracted the spider's venom that was still pooling out. When the bottle was full, I stopped it up and put it in my satchel. Then, I walked over to the ensnared bandit.

"You did it. You killed it. Now cut me down before anything else shows up," the bandit told me hurriedly. He was a dark elf just like Irileth back in Whiterun.

I was going to cut him down, but I wondered if he knew where the claw was or it he had it. Maybe this was Arvel, the guy the other bandits had talked about. So instead I asked, "Where's the claw?"

"Yes, the claw. I know how it works," he avoided my question. "The claw, the markings, the door in the Hall of Stories. I know how they all fit together!"

"How does it work?" I wondered.

"Help me down and I'll show you. You won't believe the power the Nords have hidden there," he said.

"Alright," I agreed. "I'll cut you down."

"Sweet breath of Arkay, thank you!" He exclaimed.

I didn't altogether believe that he would show me or tell me anything. He was a bandit after all, but he was also another player, so maybe he was being honest. If he wasn't, I could always kill him later. He didn't seem like much to me. I did save him from a giant spider after all.

I unsheathed my greatsword and began to carefully saw at the thick silk webbing..

"It's coming loose. I can feel it," Arvel said, for now I was almost sure it was Arvel since he knew so much about the claw.

A few cuts later, and Arvel was free from his bindings and he fell to the ground. I waited for him to gather himself. He looked up at me, and I offered my hand to help him to his feet. He got up on his own and pushed my hand anyway.

"You fool! Why should I share the treasure with anybody?" He ran from me, into the passage behind him.

"Hey!" I shouted as I chased him. He was swift. "We made a deal!"

I chased him through an empty room and then down a stone staircase into a strange room. The room was wide open with a few pillars in the center, but the most prominent feature were the walls which housed dead bodies that had been laid to rest in the nooks.

"Woah," I breathed. "That's a lot of dead people." I stopped chasing Arvel when I reached the end of the stairs. Arvel however, ran on and soon found himself in trouble. He had woken up some of the draugr that lived within.

I could only watch in horror as three undead zombie-like draugr arose from there nooks in the walls and surrounded Arvel. He was dead in a second.

I wasted no time in firing arrows at the draugr. All three turned on me with ghoulish skeletal faces grinning. I killed one before they got to me. I drew my sword and destroyed another with a single swing. The last draugr gave me a cut to the back, but it wasn't too bad. I spun around and hacked at the monster's chest.

Draugr don't bleed, so I wasn't entirely sure how I was able to kill them. I believe that their organs are still possibly intact, so damaging the heart or brain may be the only way to kill them. Or re-kill them; they are already dead.

I tested out my brain and heart theory, and it seemed much more effective. I thrust my blade into the draugr's chest in one easy move and then out again. Since draugr don't have skin, they were much easier to stab. I also noted that draugr are very stupid. They don't really care about damaging themselves, so they throw themselves into the fight carelessly, unlike humans who will block with a shield or sword. Even though they were incredibly scary-looking, draugr were really quite easy to bring down.

After the scrap, I sheathed my sword and went to see if there was any chance Arvel was alive. Nope, he was way dead. I took a look at his belongings and I found the golden claw. It matched Lucan's description: large golden ornament in the shape of a dragon's claw. I should know better than anyone what a dragon's claw looks like. It was surprisingly large, about the size of a basketball.

I put it in my satchel and took Arvel's meager gold and found a journal. It read:

 _My fingers are trembling. The Golden Claw is finally in my hands, and with it, the power of the ancient Nordic heroes. That fool Lucan Valerius had no idea that his favorite store decoration was actually the key to Bleak Falls Barrow._

 _Now I just need to get to the Hall of Stories and unlock the door. The legend says that there is a test that the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but that "When you have the Golden Claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands."_

So there was a riddle in the Hall of Stories, eh? I could solve it. I pocketed the satchel and stood up. Now where do you suppose the Hall of Stories lives? I wondered to myself.

I walked to a hallway and found it guarded by a trap. I was glad I identified it before I stepped in it. There was a pressure plate just before me. It was obvious that when I would step on it, this big gate like spike thing would impale me. Nice try, Barrow. I'm not that stupid.

I carefully walked around the pressure plate and into the hallway. I saw another draugr resting in his nook, so I launched an arrow his way before he could stand up. The arrow lodged in his arm, but it didn't kill him. The zombie grunted and pulled itself upright. I fired more arrows at it, but it was stronger than the other draugrs I had faced.

I quickly reached back into my quiver for an arrow and dipped it in my spider venom. A poisoned arrow would surely knock this guy flat on his ass. I fired the arrow, taking a little extra time to aim to make sure I didn't miss. I had only enough venom for this one arrow. I released, and the arrow landed in his chest. Unfortunately, poison didn't seem to affect draugrs. Thankfully I was able to bring down the draugr before we went hand to hand with a few more shots.

I plucked all the arrows that weren't damaged from the draugr's corpse. I was really disappointed that I had wasted my poison. I swore, right when I got out of here I was going to ask Farengar to teach me potion making.

I proceeded to the next room, which was almost exactly the same as the first draugr infested room I had chased Arvel into. Just as before, three draugr rose up from the dead and hobbled over to me with greatswords of their own. I was ready this time and shot one dead before he could get to me. The other two I took out with some mad greatsword skills. The more and more I fought with this weapon, the easier and more fun it got.

During this fight, I learned a new trick. If I bashed a person just before they used a power attack (a power attack is just a really powerful swing, usually coming from over the head), it would cause a stagger, and they would be unable to finish their attack. This lesson served me well, and I defeated the draugr with ease.I liked slaying draugr more than anything because I knew they weren't real people, so I didn't have to feel guilty about murdering anyone.

I retrieved my arrows once again and continued on my merry way. This delving into ancient crypts thing wasn't so bad after all. I was starting to wonder why Hadvar was afraid of draugrs. They were really stupid and slow. Why would you fear something like that? I began to think the fear came from ignorance. Hadvar probably doesn't like draugr, so he doesn't come near them or try to gain knowledge about them through combat. It seemed foolish to be afraid of things we don't know. How do you know it's scary, if you've never proven it?

I was torn from my musings when I came face to face with another trap. There was a hallway before me, about twenty feet long, that had three swinging blades of death in it.

"Alright," I said to myself, trying to channel my inner Indiana Jones.

All the blades swung across the path at the same time, so if I timed it correctly, I could make it through unscathed. I waited a few times to get the timing just right, and then ran for it at full speed. I just barely made it.

The hallway opened up to a sort of catacomb. I could see a draugr at the opposite end of the hallway, so I decided to not shoot an arrow. Instead, I crept up on the 'sleeping' draugr (draugr don't really sleep I think, he was just immobile. I'm not really sure of the purpose.) and slew him with a single sword thrust to the chest. This got the attention of two other draugr around the corner, though. I almost panicked because I was in a very narrow hallway which meant there wasn't a lot of room to fight, but I was able to keep a calm head and I noticed an oil slick down the hallway the draugr were coming from. I located a ceramic pot hanging over the slick. Maybe, just maybe, the contents would ignite the pool.

I hastily notched an arrow and fired at the pot. The pot fell into the oil and the chamber went up in flames. The draugr died quickly, and I waited to see if the fire would die. For a moment, I was afraid it would burn the whole corridor down, but thankfully the fire died, and I was able to cross unharmed.

I soon found myself in a room with a stream running through it. This part of Bleak Falls seemed older and more cave-like than crypt. A single draugr burst from a coffin in the wall, and that was its last mistake before it was made into a quiver.

There was a chest in the room which gave me a few meager supplies. I found a pull chain and pulled it. The gate where the water from the stream was going opened up, and I walked downstream in the water.

The stream eventually widened in a cavern up ahead. I could see it become a waterfall. I ventured down a path to the right of the stream and took out an unfortunate draugr with my sword.

A few minutes later found me crouching behind some browning vines, staking out the enemy. I saw one more draugr guarding a large wooden door. He was pacing back and forth absent mindedly in front of it. The draugr looked tougher than the others. He was a bit bigger and had a greatsword at the ready. This could be difficult.

I snuck around the vines and readied my own weapon, my bow. Making sure I made no noise whatsoever, I carefully notched an arrow and made sure to take extra time to aim it just perfectly. I fired the arrow. It hit the draugr directly in the chest, and it caused him to stagger. I hurried to fire as many arrows as I could before the draugr found me.

It wasn't long before the idiot blundered up to me and started swinging away at my head. I ducked under the first ridiculous swing as I grabbed my sword. I was able to bash the draugr with my hilt and deliver a cut to his gut. He was still up and kicking, and he hit me with a strike of his own that I was unprepared for. He sliced me right across the abdomen. My armor took most of the blow, so the scratch wasn't too deep, thankfully. It did make me mad. I fueled my anger into strength and swung my sword in a power attack over my head. I brought my sword down ferociously on its head, then left shoulder, then right shoulder, until it stopped moving and fell to the floor.

I sheathed my sword and walked over to a chest nestled in some rocks. I was a bit angry and heated from the fight, so I took a few calming breaths to prepare me for the delicate art of lockpicking. I broke five picks before I got the chest unlocked. All that was inside was a small sum of gold and some potions.

I grabbed all my gear and passed through the great wooden door the draugr had been protecting.

* * *

So, I had to find the Hall of Stories, solve the riddle, then retrieve the Dragonstone. I was starting to wonder if Farengar had known how hard this would be. I was getting tired and hungry, but the crypt was too freaky to rest in. I was debating stopping to recuperate, but I heard a familiar sound. I turned a corner to see more swinging blades.

I had survived my last encounter with the trap, so I was pretty confident I could do it again. As I darted through the trap, I realized I hadn't timed it quite right. The last blade nicked my quiver and sent a handful of arrows flying out. That made a lot of noise and woke a draugr from a coffin.

"Nice one, Falena," I scolded myself.

The draugr took his own sweet time getting out of the coffin, so I took that time to survey the room. I was in a fairly large room with two floors. There were so shoddy wooden stairs about thirty or so feet in front of me. Just in front of the stairs, was an oil slick. A lantern hung just above the oil. I noticed two more draugr on the upper level. One was storming to the stairs.

I thought up a plan and went with it. I nearly cleaved the first draugr in half with a single blow from my greatsword. Then, I dropped my sword and picked up my bow. One of the draugrs had just made it down the stairs and was charging straight at me with its battleaxe raised. He wasn't quite to the oil slick yet, so I waited for one or two heartbeats, then shot an arrow at the lantern above the oil. The lantern came down with a crash and ceramic shards fell everywhere as the center of the room went up in flames and consumed the draugr along with it.

The last draugr was still on the second floor and was firing arrows at me, which I dodged easily enough. I put in my own volley of arrows, and soon he joined his friends in defeat.

The fire died down shortly after that, and I walked up the stairs and across a stone bridge.

A few more tunnel exploring minutes brought me to a set of big wooden double doors. I was pleasantly surprised to find these ones unguarded. I pushed the door open. It took a few running tries, because the door hadn't been opened in a while. I finally burst into the room and fell flat on my face.

I cursed and flew to my feet and readied my sword just in cause draugrs attacked. Amazingly enough, the room was empty. In fact, this room wasn't really a room. It was a hall.

"The Hall of Stories," I breathed as I sheathed my blade and looked around in awe. The hall looked like a tunnel just like the rest of the crypt, but the walls were clear of spider webs and rubble. It was astonishingly well preserved. The walls were decorated with intricate designs and script, as well as pictures of old Nordic Heroes. I felt my mouth fall open, and I placed a hand gently on some of the script, gently, as though it would crumple to dust at the slightest touch.

I bet that every old Nordic legend was inscribed on those walls. I could have sat there for hours trying to decipher it all, but I hadn't the time. I removed my hand from its resting spot on the wall and ventured down the short hall, until I stood in front of a great metal wall. This must have been the riddle or test that Arvel had mentioned.

Before me stood a metal wall with a strange key hole in the center of the door. The key hole consisted of three holes, and it was surrounded by three metal rings that were turnable, almost like the stone columns with the animals on them. These rings too, had animals on them. I turned them, with some effort, and found the animals of this wall were a moth, an owl, and a bear.

"Okay," I said to myself out loud to try and solve the riddle. "Arvel's journal said that the answer could be found with the golden claw." I reread the journal to get the exact wording. I had read the Lord of the Rings before, and I had found that often the wording of the riddles was the most important, especially when it comes to opening doors.

The journal had said, "When you have the claw, the solution is in the palm of your hands."

Okay, I thought. I took the claw from my satchel and held it. The claw was obviously the key. I turned the claw over and stuck the three talons into the three key holes. I turned the claw like you would turn a key in your house door, but the door did not open. In fact, poison darts came out of the wall and struck me all over like bee stings. I screamed and dropped the claw. The darts stopped as suddenly as they began. I was grateful that I hadn't died, but the darts were poisoned, and I felt myself feeling dizzy and disoriented.

My hands groped for my satchel and I was able to take a healing potion before I died. My health immediately returned, and so did my energy. I didn't feel tired at all. I scooped the claw up off the floor and tried again.

"So the answer is in the palm of my hands, eh?" I questioned.

I looked at the claw. It was very pretty. The dim light from the sconces cast beautiful golden light to reflect off the shiny surface, all except on the bottom. The bottom was covered in thick dust. I swiped it off with my sleeve and then noticed something remarkable. Underneath all that dust and grime were three circles. The circles all had carvings of the animals from the door on them. The palm of the claw told me what animals to turn the dials to!

Practically giddy, I turned the largest ring to bear, the middle ring to moth, and the smallest one to owl. I placed the claw in the key hole once more, and the rings rotated until they showed three owls, then the wall sank into the ground and out of sight.

I put the golden claw back in my bag and stepped into the new chamber. This chamber was the grandest by far. It was a cavern with waterfalls and streams and bats in it. I walked through it slowly, but it wasn't out of fear. I was in awe of this place and tried to soak up as much beauty as I could. It seemed remarkably peaceful here compared to the scariness of the crypt.

I passed by stalactites and stalagmites; I've never been sure which was which, but the cave had both so, whatever. A few steps away from the door, I felt the warm and familiar feeling stretch all the way through my body again like it did when I cast spells. However, this time I could hear voices in my head, drawing me to the far end of the cavern. Instinct told me to follow the chanting voices, so I did.

I walked until I stood before a small stone bridge over a stream. I looked up at what was calling to me and saw a large, crescent shaped wall. I slowly traveled up the steps onto the dias the wall was on. The chanting got louder and louder until it was almost maddening as I approached the wall. The chanting became intense, and I felt like the warm feeling inside me was going to explode if I didn't let it out, but I couldn't stop walking towards the wall with my hand outstretched.

I stood before the wall in no time, and I saw words engraved into it. This script was not like the flowing style I had seen in the Hall of Stories. This writing looked like it was written by using a knife or dagger, not a fine tool like the other script. It was a strange and jagged style of writing. It wasn't anything like the Nordic style. No, this was a different language. I couldn't tell what language this was, but it seemed familiar and warm, like the feeling inside me, like I had seen it before in a strange feverish dream.

A single phrase on the wall was glowing and calling to me. I reached my hand out and touched it. The chanting reached a peak and it became almost frenzied. The glowing light from the word flew from the wall and circled around my body, then disappeared like I had absorbed it. The chanting got louder and stronger while that happened, and when the light vanished, so did the voices. The warm feeling in my body subsided, but it didn't go away fully. I could still feel it in me. The phrase or light thing I absorbed made me feel stronger. I didn't know what the word said, but my body seemed like it did. I knew it was a strong phrase, for I was filled with the feeling of power.

I shook my head to clear it. What in Sovngarde was that? I wondered. I had practically just lost control of my body and given into demonic chanting. That's not weird at all. That happens all the time. I tried to persuade myself that I wasn't going crazy, but to no avail. Whatever, I still had a quest to do.

"Now where is that Dragonstone?" I wondered as I backed away from the wall a bit nervously.

I saw a chest sitting across the way from the wall, so I went over to that. It was probably in there. I was just about to touch the chest, when a draugr exploded out of a coffin that I had not noticed.

This draugr was wearing a strange armor. His helmet reminded me of Alduin's horns. The draugr stood and raised a battleaxe. I flew into battle, slashing with all my might at the villian. I landed two swipes before the draugr could retaliate. I was not happy when he did. He was very strong and was very skilled with a battleaxe. His first swing caught my left cheek and scraped up my face. I was blinded by my own blood splatter and stumbled backwards. I furiously swiped blood out of my eyes, meanwhile I swung blindly at the foe to keep him away from me.

When my vision cleared, the draugr was right on top of me and was bringing the axe down on me. I forcefully blocked the blow and followed with a bash. That bought me enough time to give him a good slice to the ribs. He growled and swung at me again. I blocked his high attack, but I was unprepared for his surprise second one. I took a heavy hit to the right side and was forced to stumble. It got hard to breath because my armor got a huge dent in it from the strike. I fought harder to bring the draugr down. I swung faster and more frantically in hopes I could win. It seemed effective and soon the bastard took a blow to the chest and collapsed.

I dropped my sword and desperately tore off my armor. Once free, I tried to catch my breath. That had been a hard fight. The good news was that my ribs weren't broken. They were bruised pretty bad though. The bad news was, my armor was beyond my ability to repair. I tried to bash in the dent, but the metal wouldn't budge.

"Damn," I cursed. I wouldn't be able to wear this armor back to the city. It would put too much pressure on my ribs. I didn't want to damage them further. I sheathed my sword and slung my armor over my shoulder. I'd take it to Alvor to see if he'd fix it for me.

I put a hand to my cheek and saw that it was still bleeding. I looked at my reflection in the stream. I had a good graze from my jaw to my nose. The battleaxe had taken off a few layers of skin, but nothing too serious. I got the bleeding to stop pretty quickly, but it would scar for sure, but I had more important things to do right now.

I got up from my place by the stream and searched the chest. I found some stronger potions, but I put them in my satchel. I wanted to save them for a more fatal injury. I found a new steel greatsword which I gladly took and put in my old sword's sheath. I'd give my iron sword to Alvor as payment for fixing my armor. I also found a hefty bag of coin. I now had over a thousand septims. I was pretty excited to buy some new stuff.

I emptied the chest, but I found no Dragonstone.

"Are you kidding me?" I bellowed. "I went through Hell to find that piece of shit and it's not even here?!"

I stalked over to the dead draugr and kicked him a few times to release some of my anger. I gave it one final kick, and I heard a sound like a rock hitting the floor.

I stopped my violence and flipped the body over. There lay the tablet, the Dragonstone. It was a stone tablet about the size of a piece of paper that had a map on it, just as Farengar had said.

"Oop, never mind," I apologized to the universe.

I grabbed the Dragonstone, wrapped it in a rag to try and protect it from getting damaged, and carefully placed it next to the golden claw in my satchel. I then walked up some stone steps and out of Bleak Falls Barrow.


	6. A New Hope

CHAPTER SIX: A New Hope

I emerged from the passage and stood blinking in the sunlight. The passage had led me to a secret exit in the face of the mountain. I could see Riverwood just by the river from here.

I carefully climbed down the slope and traveled through the forest a short ways to the village. I was pleased to see that the city was in the same state as I left it: calm, peaceful, and happy. I saw that Alvor was still working his forge with Dorthe.

Dorthe looked up as I approached.

"Hi, Falena," she greeted merrily. "Where have you been?"

"Just exploring," I answered, really an understatement.

Alvor looked over to me for the first time and took a double take.

"By Ysmir, lass. What happened to you?" He worried. I was glad he cared.

"Just a little banged up is all," I responded. "Speaking of banged up... " I passed him my armor. "Can you fix this?"

"Of course I can," he happily obliged.

"Ooh papa, can I do it?" Dorthe pleaded. "Please?" She was unleashing the most adorable puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen. Alvor was no match for such a move.

"Alright child, you can do it," he caved.

Immediately, Dorthe became very professional and examined the armor.

"The armor took a really big hit," Dorthe diagnosed. "You're lucky you weren't killed."

I nodded and watched as she took the armor to the workbench and began hammering away. I was really impressed by her maturity and skill.

Alvor lay a hand on my shoulder. "Do you need a place to stay for the night?"

I smiled, but declined. "Thank you, but I must be heading back to Whiterun as soon as I can. I'm running an important errand for the Jarl."

"Ya are, are ya? Moving up in the world, aren't you?"

"Ha yeah, something like that," I laughed.

"How long have you know Hadvar?" Alvor asked.

"Oh, I met him yesterday," I answered. "I'm a first timer. I got the game yesterday."

"I wouldn't of guessed," he told me. "You seen very capable."

"Thanks. I'm only here because you and your family have helped me so much," I replied.

"Ha, that may be true," he laughed. I laughed too. "You wouldn't get very far with a dent like that in your armor." Alvor gestured to my armor that was being fixed. "How did you get that?"

"Ah, just a draugr," I waved off.

"A draugr? What are you doing looking for draugr? It's not safe, now that you could die," Alvor reminded me.

"I know, I know," I reassured. "But like I said, it was on the Jarl's orders."

"I know it's not my place," Alvor started, "but what is so important that you'd risk your life for? Is it these dragons?"

"Yes, the Jarl is looking for information to stop the dragons."

"Good man, our Jarl," he grunted. "Ah, good work Dorthe!" Dorthe showed us the armor. It was brand spanking new.

"I improved it too," Dorthe informed us. "It should be able to take a few hits now." She held out her hand. "25 septims."

I almost laughed at her professionalism. I knew a job like this would cost so much more than 25 septims. I wondered if she knew that, or if she was giving me a discount. I dug in my coin purse and handed her twice that amount.

"Keep the change. You did a really fine job," I told her. She beamed at me and went right back to shaping steel.

Alvor laughed, and I turned to him.

"How much will you take for this?" I passed him my old iron sword. He inspected it. It was really banged up, but I was still hoping for at least 15 septims.

"I'll give you 25 for it," he smiled. Funny how he paid the difference of what I gave Dorthe.

I smiled and accepted. Then, I donned my new and improved iron armor and said my goodbyes.

"Don't be a stranger now," Alvor said.

I crossed the street and ducked into the Riverwood Trader. Lucan was behind the counter reading, while Camilla was seated at a table near the fire eating.

When Lucan heard the door close, he looked up abruptly.

"You're back. Do you have good news?" He asked eagerly.

I didn't respond. Instead I pulled the claw out of my satchel and handed it to him.

His face lit up and he cried, "You found it? Ha ha ha. There it is. Strange… it seems smaller than I remember. Funny thing, huh? I'm going to put this back where it belongs." He placed it on his counter, right in the bare spot. "I'll never forget this. You've done a great thing for me and my sister." He gave me four hundred gold pieces, and after many 'thank you's' I was back on the road to Whiterun.

* * *

I headed off in high spirits. This 'playing a life or death video game' thing wasn't so bad.

The trip to Whiterun was uneventful, which was a pleasant change from all the action I'd been seeing. I made it into the city by dusk.

I hurried up into Dragonsreach and headed to Farengar's study. He wasn't alone. Farengar was standing talking to a woman in leather armor and a hood drawn over her head. I couldn't see her face, but they were talking in urgent, hushed tones as they peered into a dusty tome.

"You see?" Farengar said to the woman. "The terminology is clearly First Era or even earlier. I'm convinced this is a copy of a much older text. Perhaps dating to just after the Dragon War. If so, I could use this to cross-reference the names with other later texts."

"Good," the woman answered. I couldn't tell her relation to Farengar. Were they friends? Colleagues? I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be listening so I waited just around the corner. "I'm glad to hear you're making progress. My employers are anxious to have some tangible answers." That sounded like a lie to me. I wasn't sure who this woman was, but it was obvious to me that she was looking for a way to bring down these dragons. Maybe she was the Dragonborn!

Farengar reassured her, "Oh, have no fear. The Jarl himself has finally taken an interest, so I'm now able to devote most of my time to this research."

"Time is running, Farengar, don't forget. This isn't some theoretical question. Dragons have come back," the woman warned him.

"Yes, yes," he said. "Don't worry. Although the chance to see a living dragon up close would be tremendously valuable…" I was getting bored so I rounded the corner and took off my Imperial helmet. Farengar didn't see me, so he continued, "Now, let me show you something else I found… very intriguing… I think your employers may be interested as well…"

The woman interrupted him before he could say anything more, "You have a visitor." I hadn't known she saw me. Whoever this woman was, she had been in this game a long time.

"Hmm?" Farengar looked up and seemed surprised to see me. "Ah, yes, the Jarl's protege! Back from Bleak Falls Barrow? You didn't die, it seems."

Just like with Lucan, I said nothing but passed him the Dragonstone. I was very aware of the woman's eyes burning holes in me from under her hood.

"Ah! The Dragonstone of Bleak Falls Barrow!" Farengar exclaimed. "Seems you are a cut above the usual brutes the Jarl sends my way. My… associate here will be pleased to see your handiwork. She discovered its location, by means she has so far neglected to share with me." Yup, she's definitely been playing this game a long time. Farengar turned to the woman and said, "So your information was correct after all. And we have our friend here to thank for recovering it for us."

She looked at me, and I saw her face for the first time. She had blond hair, pointed chin, and rounded cheekbones. She was about thirty and relatively pretty, I guess.

"You went into Bleak Falls Barrow and got that?"

Her tone was surprised. I nodded. I didn't want to disclose too much information to this woman before I knew what her game was. I usually was so good at reading people, but I couldn't get her at all. I had no idea what her motive was. It didn't seem like she wanted to learn about the dragons and help us out of the kindness of her heart.

"Nice work," she congratulated me.

She turned back to Farengar and told him to send her a copy of whatever book they were translating. She turned back to her book and didn't say anything else.

I was just about to turn over to Farengar and see if there was anything else I could do to help, when Irileth came running in. Her auburn hair was wild, and she was out of breath.

"Farengar!" She exclaimed. "You need to come at once. A dragon's been spotted nearby."

My heart caught in my throat, and I held my breath. A dragon? Here? How could we stop it from attacking the city? Flashbacks of Helgen flashed before my eyes.

Irileth turned to me and said, "You should come too." I felt all the blood leave my face.

"A dragon! How exciting!" Farengar was practically giddy. "Where was it seen? What was it doing?"

How could he be excited at a time like this? I felt faint.

"I'd take this a bit more seriously if I were you," the dark elf warned the wizard. "If a dragon decides to attack Whiterun, I don't know if we can stop it." I grew more terrified after she said that. If a hardened warrior like Irileth was afraid, then everyone else should be too. "Let's go."

Irileth led Farengar from the room and up the stairs to the second floor of Dragonsreach. I followed mechanically. The Jarl was already there, talking to a panting guard.

"So, Irileth tells me you came from the Western Watchtower?" Balgruuf asked the guard.

"Yes, my lord," the guard wheezed.

"Tell him what you told me," Irileth ordered. "About the dragon."

I stood off to the side, not sure what to do. Should I run? Should I lead the charge? They probably wouldn't ask me to slay a dragon anyway, right? I wasn't a soldier.

"Uh, that's right," the guard said. "We saw it coming from the south. It was fast. Faster than anything I've ever seen."

"What did it do?" The Jarl asked urgently. "Is it attacking the watchtower?"

I wondered if the dragon was Alduin the World Eater. If so, this would end up just like Helgen. It felt like I was replaying it over and over.

"No, my lord," reassured the guard. "It was just circling overhead when I left. I never ran so fast in my life. I thought it'd come after me, for sure."

I was surprised by the guard's courage. I don't know if I would have been able to run all the way to the city to warn everyone. It seemed the Jarl was impressed too.

"Good work, son," he praised. "We'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it."

The guard nodded and left. I didn't agree with the Jarl's decision. We'd need every man to defend this city.

"Irileth," the Jarl called, and she stepped forward. "You'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate," she informed.

I was glad someone was prepared for a dragon attack.

"Good," Balgruuf said. "Don't fail me."

Then, the Jarl turned to me.

"There's no time to stand on ceremony, my friend. I need your help again," he told me. Of course he'd ask me to help. I hid my fear behind a mask of determination. "I want you to go with Irileth and help her fight this dragon. You survived Helgen, so you have more experience with dragons than anyone else here."

I think he was under the impression that I fought the dragon at Helgen. The truth was, I ran away. I didn't think that would help me much here.

"But I haven't forgotten the service you did for me in retrieving the Dragonstone for Farengar," Balgruuf went on. "As a token of my esteem, I have instructed Avenicci (the advisor I presumed) that you are now permitted to purchase property in the city, and please, accept this gift from my personal armory."

He passed me a hide helmet that had an enchantment on it. It would resist fire. That would be nice in a fight against a dragon. I put it on.

"I should come along," Farengar told the Jarl. "I would very much like to see this dragon."

"No," Balgruuf dismissed. "I can't afford to risk both of you. I need you here working on ways to defend the city against these dragons."

Farengar looked crestfallen, but agreed nevertheless. "As you command."

Irileth turned to head down the stairs, but the Jarl stopped her. "One last thing, Irileth. This isn't a death or glory mission. I need to know what we're dealing with."

I wondered if Jarl Balgruuf liked Irileth as more than a housecarl.

"Don't worry, my lord. I'm the very soul of caution," she assured.

With that, she headed down the stairs quickly with me at her heels, eager to get this over with.

* * *

A few minutes later, I was standing before the gates with four guardsmen. They looked just as worried as I felt. The torches they held illuminated the fear on their faces in the werelight. The dragon would have every advantage. It was dark tonight, it could fly, it could breath fire, and it wasn't afraid of us. I was shaking in my Imperial boots. I hoped the men couldn't see it.

Irileth joined us moments later.

"Here's the situation," she briefed. "A dragon is attacking the Western Watchtower."

There was a chorus of "A dragon?" "Really?" "Now we're in for it!"

Irileth continued, "You heard right! I said a dragon! I don't much care where it came from or who sent it. What I do know is that it's made the mistake of attacking Whiterun!"

If only we could be as confident and brave as Irileth.

"But Housecarl…" one of the guards interrupted. "How can we fight a dragon?"

I was wondering the same thing. I nervously fiddled with my bow.

"That's a fair question," she responded. "None of us have ever seen a dragon before, or expected to face one in battle. But we are honorbound to fight it, even if we fail. This dragon is threatening our homes… our families. Could you call yourselves Nords if you ran from this monster? Are you going to let me face this thing alone?"

"No Housecarl," the majority reassured. However I heard the guard nearest me mutter, "We are so dead," under his breath.

"But it's more than our honor at stake," Irileth rallied. "Think of it- the first dragon seen in Skyrim since the last age. The glory of killing it is ours, if you're with me! Now what do you say? Shall we go kill us a dragon?"

The guards bellowed in approval. I heard myself joining in, but I was nervous and scared. In the back of my mind, I could still see images of Helgen: the burning city, the rundown keep, the dead bodies. If we didn't succeed in doing the impossible, Whiterun would be reduced to a crater.

I slung my bow off my back and gripped it until my knuckles turned white. Even though I may die, it was my duty as a warrior to try and save the people of Skyrim. I felt the warm, familiar feeling in me, and I knew I could do this. I wasn't as afraid anymore.

"Let's move out!" Irileth commanded, and we drew our weapons and charged out of the gate into the night.

* * *

The cool night air stung my cheeks as we ran to the Western Watchtower. I was afraid of what we might find. Would everyone be dead? Would the tower still be standing? I kept my thoughts to myself, as everyone was silent as well.

We had all formed a single-file line behind Irileth. I was in the middle. All the other guards had their swords drawn, and I wondered if I should tell them that they wouldn't work on a dragon. Dragons fly. You can't hit a bird with a sword, so why would you try to hit a dragon with one? It made no sense, but I told myself they'd figure it out sooner or later.

It was really dark tonight. I had no idea how we were going to see a dragon flying around. I got nervous that it may of been watching us at that very moment. I looked around to see if the dragon was around, but I couldn't see anything except the guards around me and the road beneath our feet.

The watchtower wasn't far. We made it there very quickly, and our company ducked behind some boulders to survey the damage from a distance.

The tower itself was still standing, which was a relief. I couldn't say the same for the structures around the it. The whole area surrounding the tower was engulfed in flames. I swallowed back some vomit that threatened to come up as I took note of the wreckage. It looked very similar to Helgen. The grass was in flames, a few structures were crumpled and burning, and there were no survivors to be seen. I was afraid again. I frantically searched the skies for any dragon, but to no avail. It seemed we were relatively safe for now.

"I know it looks bad," the Housecarl said, "but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still sulking about somewhere." She drew her sword. "Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with."

I vaulted silently over the boulders we were hiding behind and snuck closer to the tower, my eyes always scanning for threats. We were lucky the moon was out, otherwise we would have no chance at seeing a dragon coming up. The light from the moon was illuminating the mountains around us, making it possible to see the sky.

I stopped sneaking around as I made it to the tower. There was obviously no dragon, and the more time I spent around here, it seemed less and less likely there would be one.

I walked up a small incline to the tower door. Just before I could enter, a helmetless guard rounded the corner. He was covered in dirt and scrapes.

"No!" He told me firmly. "Get back! It's still here somewhere!" He seemed really shaken up. I was just glad we found someone alive. "Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"

He was almost in hysterics. "Calm down, man," I put a hand on his shoulder and guided him slowly out of the tower. "It's over. What happened?" I asked.

He got a far away look in his eyes like he was watching the mountains for danger. Then, his eyes widened, and he gasped, "Kynareth save us, here he comes again…"

I quickly let go of the guard and looked where he had been looking. Indeed, flying down from the mountain was a dragon.

The moment I saw it, I could see Alduin's face in my mind's eye. I was glad that this dragon was not black, so it definitely wasn't the World Eater. However, it was still a dragon, and that was hardly reassuring.

Irileth caught sight of him moments after I did. "Here he comes! Find cover and make every arrow count!" She ordered. I was glad the men finally came to their senses and readied their bows.

The dragon was faster than I could have imagined, and it flew over us in seconds. I was frozen in shock and hadn't notched an arrow until a war horn sounded, and I flew into action. This time, I would not run in fear.

Even in the dark, I could see the dragon surprisingly well. It was brown in color, and had less horns than Alduin had. However, it was just as large.

The dragon swooped around a few times, all while being bombarded with arrows, which didn't seem to bother it all that much, and then hovered just above a group of guards a few yards away from me. It opened its maw and released a jet of flame that engulfed the men. I took advantage of the distraction and fired a few arrows into the beast's neck. They didn't seem to hurt it, and the dragon flew away. I saw that the guards that had been torched were still alive. I wasn't sure how, but I was grateful all the same.

The dragon circled us a few more times before repeating the attack on some other guards. If the monster kept this up, we'd all be burnt and dead in no time. We had to get the dragon to land. Irileth ended up next to me and was seemingly thinking the same thing. The dragon flew over our heads, and she shot a bolt of lightning that caused the beast to roar in pain. I ran a few paces away and grabbed my sword. I brandished it and yelled war cries at the dragon to get its attention.

The dragon noticed me for the first time, and its eyes seemed to gleam in excitement as it took up my challenge. It landed heavily on the ground before me. I was in awe of the beast before me. My mind almost couldn't comprehend what was happening. I couldn't look at the whole dragon without my head spinning at its sheer size.

The dragon took advantage of my hesitation and spewed fire at me. I was caught in the flames before I could do anything. I dropped my sword and screamed in agony. My whole body felt like it was thrown into an ice bath. My nerves were on overdrive, so it felt like ice. I felt my skin blistering and charring up. I fell to the ground just before the dragon took off again. The fire stopped, and I lay dying on the stone road.

Everything hurt. The feeling of ice was gone, and now I felt like an egg frying on a blacktop. I could hardly move without screaming in pain. I was just able to make it to my satchel and grab a healing potion. I gulped it down and immediately the pain left me. I sprung to my feet and grabbed my sword.

"Is that all you got, you oversized worm?" I taunted the dragon.

That caught his attention and he spoke in a deep throaty voice, "You are brave. _Balaan hokoron._ Your defeat brings me honor." I sneered and he landed before me again.

This time, I was not distracted. I could feel the warm feeling in my gut again. It felt like I could breath fire. This feeling gave me strength, and I fought with a fury I didn't know I had.

I hacked at its head, and the dragon doubled back in surprise. My swings were fast and powerful. I felt invincible. The dragon reared back his head to blast me with more fire, but I was ready. I bashed him in the throat with the hilt of my sword, and he choked. I kept hacking and slashing until he bit me in the side and caused me to lose my balance. Instead of attacking me more, the dragon flew off and circled the tower again. I performed a healing spell naturally, and the pain in my side vanished.

"I had forgotten what fine sport you mortals can provide!" The dragon insulted.

I glared daggers at the monstrosity, but took pride in the blood dripping from his neck and head. At least I hurt him. I could actually stand a chance here.

The dragon took his time getting back to me. He probably took out a few guards, but I didn't know for sure because all my focus was pointed towards formulating a plan to end this bastard.

Before I could decide on the best plan to slay this dragon, he flew past me and strafed me with another bout of flame. The fire didn't hurt as much because it wasn't a direct hit, but the heat helped fuel my determination to show the dragon what I was made of. I patted the fire out with little concern and challenged,

"Mirmulnir! Come down here so I can butcher your face some more!" I bellowed.

Though no one spoke the dragon's name, I knew it. I couldn't tell you why, I just did, as though the wind had whispered the name to me.

The dragon roared in rage and descended. The ground shook as he landed in a cloud of dust. He came out, jaws snapping, but I was ready for it. I slashed at the side of his head with my sword, preventing him from landing a bite on me.

" _Thurri du hin sille ko Sovngarde!"_ The dragon bellowed.

I had no idea what it meant, but I assumed it wasn't a surrender, so I bashed with my sword and followed with an arcing strike to the top of his head. He threw his head back, and I saw my opening and took it.

I charged closer to the dragon and buried my sword hilt-deep into his chest.

" _Dovahkiin!_ No!" Mirmulnir's dying roar rang out and thundered off the mountains.

He reared up onto his hind legs and then collapsed in the dirt. The ground shuddered, then everything was still.

I dropped my sword and stared open mouthed at what I had accomplished. Blood pooled from the fallen dragon's mouth and chest. His eyes were staring at me, cold and lifeless.

Though the battle was over, my gut told me this wasn't the end. I could feel the warm feeling coursing through my body, as though I had a fever. Just when I felt I could bare it no longer, something happened.

Mirmulnir's body began to glow, as though it were on fire. In fact, it was. It's scales began to peel away and disappear into thin air. Rays of light began to pour from the dragon's corpse and to me. The light danced around me just like the word from the wall in Bleak Falls Barrow had. This did nothing to ease the burning sensation I had in my body. I was getting warmer. The fire spread across the dragon's whole body, and soon Mirmulnir was no more than a pile of dusty bones, as if it had been dead for hundreds of years. The light stopped as suddenly as it had began. I still felt hot. It was like a little fire was burning within my gut, and I had to release it somehow. I felt like I was practically smoldering, but I did nothing. I just stood and l gawked at the dragon.

A guard ran in front of me suddenly. Instead of staring at the dragon, he was staring at me in awe.

"I can't believe it!" He exclaimed. "You're… Dragonborn…"

My eyes grew wider. I was Dragonborn? Impossible! Only one person in the entire world could hold that honor. It couldn't possibly be me!

"Dragonborn?" I said it out loud to try and make more sense of it. "How can you be sure?"

He explained, "In the very oldest tales, back from when there still were dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their power. That's what you did, isn't it? Absorbed that dragon's power?"

My head was spinning. This was so unreal.

"I don't know what happened to me," I responded honestly, but even as I said it, I could feel the hot feeling in my body telling me that what he said was true.

"There's one way to find out. Try to Shout… that would prove it."

What? He wanted me to scream?

"According to the old legends," he continued, "only the Dragonborn can Shout without training, the way the dragons do."

By now, all the remaining guards had gathered around and were talking excitedly.

"Dragonborn? What are you talking about?" Asked one.

"That's right!" Said another. "My grandfather used to tell stories about the Dragonborn. Those born with the dragon blood in 'em. Like old Tiber Septim himself."

"I've never heard of Tiber Septim killing any dragons," another guard offered.

"There weren't any dragons then, idiot," one of the first guards shot back. "They're just coming back now for the first time in… forever. But the old tales tell of the Dragonborn who could kill dragons and steal their power. You must be one!"

"What do you say, Irileth?" One guard asked. "You're being awfully quiet."

"Come on, Irileth, tell us, do you believe in this Dragonborn business?" Another pestered.

"Hmmph," she grunted. "Some of you would be better off keeping quiet than flapping your gums on matters you don't know anything about. Here's a dead dragon, and that's something I definitely understand. Now we know we can kill them. But I don't need some mythical Dragonborn. Someone who can put down a dragon is more than enough for me."

"You wouldn't understand, Housecarl. You ain't a Nord," one guard defended.

Irileth puffed herself up. "I've been all across Tamriel. I've seen plenty of things just as outlandish as this. I'd advise you all to trust in the strength of your sword arm over tales and legends."

The first guard turned to me again, ignoring Irileth, "If you really are Dragonborn, you ought to be able to Shout."

I stepped away from Mirmulnir's bones. I needed to clear my head. I took off my hide helmet and threw it to the ground. I was so hot. I looked to the sky to try and calm down. It felt like the fire in me was bubbling up like vomit. Try to Shout. How do you Shout? I thought about it for a moment and came up with nothing. This was nonsense! I'm not Dragonborn!

The guards were quiet, watching me. They were expecting something from me. They said they wanted a Shout, but really they were waiting for a hero. They finally believed that the savior of Skyrim had come, and that I was it. It was true, I was a great warrior. I proved that today, but a Dragonborn?

I closed my eyes, and the memory of the word wall in Bleak Falls Barrow washed over me. I could here the torturer's assistant's voice in my head, "You've got something special inside you, first timer. I think you'll have a say in the future of this world yet." I felt the power surge inside me, just as it did when I absorbed the word, or the dragon's soul. Then, it came to me. My Shout rose from deep inside me, just like when a dragon breathed fire.

" _FUS!"_

A surge of power escaped me and blasted into the night sky. The world shook just as it had when the dragon died. The heat inside me left immediately, and I felt loads better. I finally understood. All this time I was Dragonborn. The warm feeling wasn't just magic flowing inside me, it was my Shout, trying to escape. Whenever I had wanted to use it, it had welled up inside me. It made so much sense now. There was no longer any doubt it my mind that I was Dragonborn.

"By the gods! What manner of power is that?" One guard exclaimed.

"That was Shouting, what you just did! Must be. You really are Dragonborn, then…" the first guard faded out.

All the guards looked at me like I was a queen. I was kind of uncomfortable. The only one who wasn't was Irileth. I walked over to her.

"That was the hairiest fight I've ever been in, and I've been in more than a few. I don't know about this Dragonborn business, but I'm sure glad you're with us. You better get back to Whiterun right away. Jarl Balgruuf will want to know what happened here."

I nodded and started back on the road to Whiterun. As I left, I heard the guards still talking excitedly like school girls.

"I can't believe it! You're… Dragonborn…"

Before I left, I searched the dragon's corpse to see if their was any information to be gained from his bones. I found lots of scales and bones, as well as a fair amount of gold and arrows. I was disturbed to find a set of Whiterun guard's armor. I guess I know where Hroki and Tor went.

I left the dragon behind and marched back to Whiterun. Not too shabby for my first dragon. I had a few cuts, scrapes, and burns, but nothing that couldn't heal naturally. I actually felt better than I had in my whole life. The word 'fus' seemed to give me strength. I think I was actually smiling on my way back to the city.

As I rounded the corner by the stables, the ground shook in a way most unnatural. Could Skyrim have earthquakes? Just before I could wonder much more, a noise like thunder came from somewhere far away, yet was still as loud as a dragon roar.

" _DOVAHKIIN!"_

The word was unmistakable. Someone, or someones, had shouted the word 'Dovahkiin.' I wasn't sure what it meant, but Mirmulnir had said it too, just before he died. I wondered if it was a name. Was it me?

I ran to Whiterun as fast as I could. I needed to get answers. However, one thing was certain: I was the Dragonborn, and I was here to save Skyrim.


	7. The Seven Thousand Steps

**CHAPTER 7: The Chapter in Which I Climb Seven Thousand Steps with Rocks in My Boots**

It was three a.m. when I walked into Dragonsreach. Even though the hour was ungodly, the Jarl was on his throne talking with his steward, Proventus Avenicci, and some other Nordic man who was some kind of advisor or something. He was wearing armor and war paint, so I figured he must be a housecarl like Irileth.

By this time, I was exhausted. I had conquered Bleak Falls Barrow and a dragon in one day. I needed to sleep for years to work that off.

Balgruuf was talking to the man I didn't know. "You heard the summons. What else could it mean? The Greybeards…"

I walked up to the throne and removed my helmet.

He looked up at me eagerly and said, "So what happened at the watchtower? Was the dragon there?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, the watchtower was destroyed, but we killed the dragon."

"I knew I could count on Irileth," the Jarl breathed a sigh of relief. "But there must be more to it than that."

I gulped, "Turns out I may be something called 'Dragonborn.'"

"Dragonborn?" The Jarl's eyes widened. "What do you know about the Dragonborn?" He almost sounded mad.

"When the dragon died, I absorbed some kind of power from it," I informed.

I really hoped he wasn't mad. Maybe it wasn't a good thing that I was Dragonborn…

Balgruuf got a far away look in his eyes. "So it's true. The Greybeards really were summoning you."

"The Greybeards, sir?" I wondered.

"Masters of the Way of the Voice," he clarified. I got excited. There were people like me! "They live in seclusion high on the slopes of the Throat of the World."

I had no clue what the "Throat of the World" was, but it sounded important. I refrained from asking about it to avoid looking stupid.

"What do the Greybeards want with me?"

"The Dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the Voice- the ability to focus your vital essence into a Thu'um or Shout," he told me. "If you really are Dragonborn, they can teach you how to use your gift."

The man that had been talking to the Jarl before I came here spoke, "Didn't you hear the thundering sound as you returned to Whiterun?"

"Yes," I said warily.

"That was the voice of the Greybeards, summoning you to High Hrothgar!" The man told me excitedly. "This hasn't happened in… centuries, at least. Not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned when he was still Talos of Atmora!"

There was that name again, Tiber Septim. I didn't know who that was, but it was obvious he was some big shot hero. The man had called him Talos of Atmora, so I wondered if Tiber Septim was Talos, the god these Nords kept worshipping.

"Hrongar, calm yourself," Provenus chimed in. "What does any of this Nord nonsense have to do with our friend here? Capable as she may be, I see no signs of her being this, what, "Dragonborn.'"

The man, Hrongar, looked like he was about to slap Avenicci.

"Nord nonsense?! Why you puffed-up ignorant... " He took a breath. "These are our sacred traditions that go back to the founding of the First Empire!"

I was getting tired. I just wanted a bed and some mead. I shifted my weight to my other foot and crossed my arms.

Balgruuf defended his steward. "Hrongar, don't be so hard on Avenicci."

"I meant no disrespect, of course." I wasn't so sure about that. The steward continued, "It's just that…" He looked at me. "What do these Greybeards want with her?"

The Jarl waved a hand. "That's the Greybeard's business, not ours." He looked down at me. "Whatever happened when you killed that dragon, it revealed something in you, and the Greybeards heard it. If they think you're Dragonborn, who are we to argue? You better get up to High Hrothgar immediately. There is no refusing the summons of the Greybeards. It is a tremendous honor."

I was a bit confused, but it was so late that I just decided to figure out all the details in the morning.

I was just about to bid my farewell to the Jarl, when he sat up straighter in his throne and said loudly, "You've done a great service for me and my city, Dragonborn. By my right as Jarl, I name you Thane of Whiterun. It's the greatest honor that's within my power to grant."

I was speechless. Yesterday, I was a nobody just trying to survive, and now I was a dragon slaying noblewoman, not to mention I was also the mythical Dragonborn. My head was spinning.

"I assign you Lydia as a personal housecarl, and and this weapon from my armory to serve as your badge of office. I'll also notify my guards of your new title. Wouldn't want them to think you're part of the common rabble, now would we? We are honored to have you as Thane of our city, Dragonborn."

"Thank you, my lord. I'm honored," I stated. I left with a bow.

I was very hungry and tired. The only thing on my mind was a warm bed and a cold mead.

As I headed down the stairs to the door, I was greeted by a woman. Even though it was very late, she seemed wide awake. Her steel armor was shined to perfection, her black shoulder length hair was brushed, her shield was buffed and slung across her back. She was pretty intimidating. I hoped she wouldn't draw her sword on me. I was in no shape to fight.

She walked up to me proudly and said, "The Jarl has appointed me to be your housecarl. It's an honor to serve you."

"Huh?" I had completely forgotten I had a housecarl. I wasn't exactly sure what that was. "What's a housecarl do?"

"As my Thane, I'm sworn to your service. I'll guard you and all you own with my life," she answered.

"Uh, okay then…" What are you supposed to say when a stranger commits their life to you? "Well, I'm Falena," I greeted and extended my arm.

"Lydia," she said and gripped my forearm. She was really strong.

"I'm off to the Bannered Mare if you'll join me," I suggested.

"As you will, my Thane."

We walked out of the palace. I had seen the inn on my way up to Dragonsreach, and I thought it seemed like a good place to spend the night, after I had my mead of course.

The Bannered Mare was a great place. The center of the room had a great big fireplace that bathed the room in a buttery light. I was warm immediately. Even though it was nearly four a.m., people were still around the fire talking, laughing, and of course drinking. A few bards were playing instruments, and the whole scene was perfect.

"Come on in," a barmaid called from behind the counter. "Just stoked the fire. Have a seat and we'll get you a drink."

I liked this place more already.

I sat down by the fire and tucked my helmet in my satchel. Lydia stood by the door like a bodyguard or a secret service member.

A black woman bustled over and asked, "What can I get you?"

"A mead and soup," I answered.

She walked back to the counter, retrieved my order, and gave it to me. I passed her some coin and devoured my meal like it was the first time I'd eaten food in weeks. I think I grossed out a few wenches in the corner, but that's alright.

After my meal, I sat contently by the fire, but only for a few moments because my eyelids began to droop. I rented a room from the lady behind the counter and was led up to my room on the second floor. The room was nicer than the one in Riverwood. It was double the size and had a double bed. The moment Hulda, the innkeeper, left, I jumped onto the bed like a child. Lydia entered the room, finding me rolling around in it like a fool. She didn't say anything, just sat down in a chair and began nibbling noisily on some bread.

I sighed heavily and stopped rolling in the bed. I stared at the wooden ceiling and got lost in thought.

I was the Dragonborn. It was my job to stop the dragons, though I didn't know how. I let that sink in, but it just felt so unreal. The stress that should consume me was nonexistent. All that I could think about was how comfortable the bed was. I felt safe for the first time all day. Even though I was in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, and the place was probably rat infested, I felt calmer than I had since I have come to Skyrim.

I drowsily unstrapped my bracers and tossed them onto the nightstand. I kicked off my boots, and they fell off the end of the bed. I wriggled out of my iron armor and dropped it to the floor with a dull thud. I put my satchel under the pillow on the other side of the bed. I didn't want anyone to find that.

"Hey, Lydia?" I called, my eyes already closed.

"Yes, my Thane?" She answered immediately.

"Wake me up at first light. We need to get to High Hrothgar," my speech was so slurred and jumbled that I was surprised she even understood it.

"Yes, my Thane."

I rolled onto my side and fell into a dreamless sleep instantly.

* * *

I woke up to something heavy being placed on the bed. I shot up, instantly alert. It was just Lydia placing my discarded armor onto the bed beside me.

"The sun is rising," she told me.

"If that's your way of saying it's time to move my ass, you got it," I rolled out of bed and redid my hair.

When I was done, Lydia passed me my iron armor and helped me get it on. I was about to tell her I could do it myself, but she seemed happy doing it, so I said nothing.

I put on my boots and my bracers, while Lydia went over to the table. I couldn't see what she was doing, but I hoped it was breakfast. I wasn't disappointed as Lydia turned around and passed me a slice of cheese, apples, and grilled leeks wrapped in a cloth.

"I thought you might want to head out and eat it on the road," she stated.

"Good thinking." That was a good plan. "Let's go then."

I grabbed my satchel and donned my helmet. We were out of the city just as the sun broke over the horizon.

We traveled down the road towards the stables. As we did, I asked Lydia, "So, do you know where the Throat of the World is?"

"Of course," she sounded surprised that I didn't know where it was. "It's that large mountain just there." She pointed to the mountain closest to us. It was by far the largest mountain I had ever seen. That must be why they call it the Throat of the World. "High Hrothgar is right there."

It was a very clear day, and the clouds and mist had dissipated from the mountains to reveal what looked like a fortress nestled about halfway up the slope. Although I could see it, it seemed impossibly far away.

"How do we get up there?" I asked. I was nervous we'd have to climb the whole way.

"We must head for Ivarstead. There we walk up the Seven Thousand Steps," Lydia answered.

Damn. Seven Thousand Steps? How in Talos were we supposed to do that. I could hardly run the mile back in high school.

"Great," I muttered. "How do we get to Ivarstead then?" I hoped I didn't sound like a total idiot. If I did, Lydia didn't say anything about it.

"We cross the White River by the meadery, travel the road until we get to the hot springs, then turn and follow that road all the way to Ivarstead,"she advised.

"That doesn't seem too far," I replied.

"We won't get there until late this afternoon."

Ugh. This trip just keeps getting better. We took a left at the stables and traveled past the meadery and across the bridge over the White River. Right at the end of the bridge was one of those giant rat things. Why was every vermin creature giant in Skyrim? I killed it with a single shot of my bow.

"I hate skeevers," Lydia said.

"Is that what they're called?" I asked as I unstrung my bow and put it on my back.

"Yes, nasty creatures."

I took the lead and we walked along the street that was now overlooking the White River. Awkward silence ensued as we walked. I pretended to be interested in the view, and it wasn't hard. Skyrim really was beautiful. The White River was accurately named. The water was crystal clear and flowing powerfully. I could see large crabs dozing lazily in the banks. Once again, the creatures were larger than average. These crabs had to be knee high.

Soon, I lost interest in the river and was forced to have a conversation.

"So, you're a housecarl," I began. When Lydia didn't say anything I continued. "How'd you become a housecarl?"

"The Jarl saved my life," she responded. She didn't look at me, just kept her eyes trained on the path ahead of us. "I owe him my life, so I do as he commands. He commands I be your housecarl."

"Do you like being a housecarl?" I asked.

It kind of felt like she was a slave. I had learned about slavery in my history classes, and it was not something I wanted to do. I just wanted a buddy to explore the world with me, not a slave to carry me everywhere.

"It is my duty," she responded simply. That meant no.

I was going to say something, but I was cut off by quite the sight.

A green man stood, hands on his hips, above two giant dead things. As we got closer, I could tell that the two dead things had once been great animals, cats by the look of it. Each cat was about the size of a Honda Civic, and they both bore two great fangs, each as long as a pencil. These had been saber toothed tigers! It was obvious the green man was an orc. My experience in watching Lord of the Rings movies told me that. He was ugly with an underbite, big teeth, pointed ears, rigid features, and covered in scars. His black hair was tied back in a ponytail, not unlike mine. He stood there by the dead saber toothed tigers indifferently, as though killing them had been boring.

"Hello," I greeted, warily.

"I am waiting for a good death," the orc told me gruffly.

"A good death?" I was taken aback.

"Yes," the orc confirmed. His voice was lower than the average man's and more gruff. "Were I to simply lay down and die, it would not please Malacath."

Was Malacath his god? I didn't want to ask to appear ignorant, so instead I asked, "Why do you wish to die?"

"My time has come," he said, as though it were obvious. "I am old. Too old to become chief. It would be wrong for me to take wives at this age. So I will die. Malacath has given me a vision of a glorious death. I am to wait here until it finds me. As you can see, it has not yet arrived."

He said the last part like a challenge. He wanted me to fight him, to kill him. I did not want any part of that.

"Good luck with that," I said awkwardly and passed him.

He didn't say anything and crossed his arms. Lydia and I scurried past and continued down the road. When we were out of earshot, I turned to Lydia.

"What the Hell was that?"

"He wants to die," Lydia told me like I hadn't understood.

"Well yeah, I get that, but why? He's in great condition! We should go back and see if he wants to come with us," I wondered out loud.

"No," Lydia argued. "Orcs are different from Nords. Those are his customs. We leave him be."

I huffed, but continued on. The path led us away from the river shortly after that. We started to head left. We were met with two wolves, both I took out with one arrow a piece.

"I'm getting better with this thing," I commented.

Lydia didn't say anything. I was getting sick of her silence.

"Say something," I nearly demanded.

"Yes, my Thane," she said.

"Ugh, quit calling me that," I complained.

"But I am your housecarl…" Lydia tried to persist, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

"Nope. You're fired."

She stopped walking and looked at me like I just ruined her whole life. Her mouth was moving like she was trying to say something to argue, but she couldn't make any noise. I continued.

"Jarl Balgruff gave you to me, so I could do as I see fit with you." She was still silent so I kept going. "So, I free you from your life debt, and now you are free to do as you wish."

I crossed my arms and smiled. I was quite proud of myself for finding that loophole. I didn't want her to feel like she had to follow me because it was her job. I wanted a friend who would help me because they wanted to. I didn't want this trip to be like master and slave. I wanted a friend.

"I do hope we can be friends still," I finished. I really wouldn't survive a day out here alone.

After a few moments of shocked silence, Lydia found her voice and bowed. "You are too kind, Falena. No one has ever helped me before. I thank you. I would very much like to accompany you on your quest, as friends." She beamed.

I smiled too and said, "Then it's settled. From now on, we are equals, and we are on a quest to save the world."

"Deal," Lydia agreed.

We resumed our walk. I remembered a specific part of the Hobbit. When they are about to head out, they decide how they are going to split the treasure. What if we get treasure?

After a few moments I said, "So do we split the gold fifty-fifty then?"

Lydia laughed. "I've never had too much gold before."

"Then, we will split all the funds we make on this quest in half," I declared.

"Sounds good," Lydia laughed again. She seemed in high spirits. I was glad.

We walked and talked for forty minutes. I learned that Lydia had been a housecarl nearly all her life. Her family had died in a bandit raid, and the Jarl had saved her life. She was then raised to be a housecarl. She admitted that she wasn't really sure how not to be a housecarl. I assured her that it was easy, and all she had to do was follow her heart. She claimed she didn't know how to do that either, and then she asked me about myself. I told her all about what had happened to me so far: Helgen, Hadvar, magic, Bleak Falls, dragon attack, everything. She was in awe of my story, and said she was glad she could be a part of it now. I was happy to have a friend.

The path had come back by the river, and we were talking about dragons.

"So, you've seen two dragons?" Lydia asked.

"Yup."

"What did they look like?"

"Well," I sighed. "They're really big, and…" I was cut off when we rounded a corner and saw two big towers right on the river. They were huge stone towers, very similar to the one I had been in by Bleak Falls Barrow, but they were connected by a thin bridge over the water. There was one tower on either side of the river. It was pretty amazing.

"This is Valtheim towers," Lydia told me. "I've passed by here quite a few times."

I continued walking, but I was stopped just as I was about to pass by the tower. A redguard woman (I had learned that's a race of black people from a different country, Hammerfell, were called) stopped me.

"Hold it. This here's a toll road, see? Yer gonna have to hand over, say, 200 gold if you wanna use our road."

200 gold? I had the coin, but I didn't want to spend it. This was obviously a shakedown. I wasn't about to get robbed. I got mad that this woman had the audacity to try and take money away from other players. I got mad and tried to scare her off with a threat.

"How about you let me through, and I won't kill you?" I sneered.

She laughed. "Ha. Tough talk for someone who's about to have their guts spilt."

She grabbed her sword and swung at me. So she wasn't scared by my threat, but I was prepared for that. I put an arrow in her gut. This made her double forward, and Lydia put an arrow in her chest, killing her.

I quickly ran to the tower to get away from the arrows the bandit's friends were launching at us from the tower.

I got to the door of the tower and tore it open. Lydia gave me covering fire with her bow. She wasn't that bad of a shot either. I dashed up some stairs to the right and they led me to the bridge over the river. One slip, and I could fall into the river and down the rushing waterfall just downstream. I saw two bandits on the bridge. One was firing arrows at me, the other was behind her, running at me from the far end with a sword and shield. I took out the archer easily enough with two arrows. I saw a body fall from the tower behind me. Lydia must have shot an archer out of it. The swordsman was still charging at me, and I fired an arrow into his neck. He didn't die until I shot one more in his head.

I dodged a shot from an archer across the river. She was firing at me from a rocky outcropping far away. I didn't think I'd be able to shoot her from here.

I was about to run across the bridge myself to get to the archer, but a bandit chief burst out the doors on the other side of the bridge and ran at me. He was wearing iron armor like me, and he would be harder to kill.

I wasted no time in firing three arrows in quick succession. One hit his thigh, another his arm, and the third stuck in his shield. Lydia wasn't firing at him, so I figured she must be running up the stairs in the tower.

I was able to get in one more shot that nicked his helmet before he swung at me. I backed up quickly, but took a little slash to the gut. My armor blocked it, so I was unharmed. The bandit was too close for me to change weapons and not get hit, so I couldn't swap to my sword. I was afraid when I saw he was going for another swing. I could feel myself getting warm, and instinct told me to let it out.

" _FUS!"_ I shouted.

The bandit stumbled back, but I was not safe yet. I fired another arrow, and it struck him in the chest. He growled and went for a strike to my head, but I surprised him. I ran at him and punched him in the face with my left hand clutching my bow.

The blow surprised him, and he lost his balance. He screamed and groped for something to hold on to, but came up with nothing. He fell off the bridge and into the water. I watched in shock as he hit the water with a large splash. Amazingly enough, he was able to come up for air. I thought he wouldn't be able to because of all that armor. He paddled frantically to get out of the current, but it was too strong. He screamed bloody murder as he went over the waterfall.

I was transfixed by the scene. I hadn't noticed that Lydia had shot the other archer across the stream and was now standing next to me.

"Nice hit," she complimented.

"Nice shot," I complimented back, gesturing to the archer.

Now it was time for my least favorite part of a fight, cleaning up afterwards. I pulled the arrows out of the two bandits on the bridge. I was only able to salvage two that hadn't been broken. I wiped the blood off on the bridge and put them in my quiver. I crossed the bridge and searched the tower on that side of the river. I found a chest at the very top that had some improved iron armor in it. I was a little sad to give up the armor that Dorthe had fixed for me, but I needed something stronger. I shed my armor, and donned the new banded iron armor. It was a bit heavier. It had cool shoulder plates and everything on it. I felt like a real adventurer in it. I'll admit, Lydia had to help me into it, because I wasn't quite sure how to get in it myself.

As I finished putting on my armor, Lydia went out to look at the other tower, and see if she could find anything else. I ate my breakfast while she was gone. The cheese and the apple were great. The grilled leeks however were nasty. They tasted like rancid celery. I spit them out and quickly threw them out the tower door, hoping they made it down to the river and out of my life.

Lydia returned moments later with steel shin boots, steel Nordic gauntlets, and an iron helmet. I ditched my Imperial and hide stuff and put on the armor she found me.

As I got dressed, Lydia asked, "So you don't like leeks do you?"

My breath caught. I guessed I didn't get rid of the leeks well enough. I hoped I hadn't offended her. I must have looked pretty guilty, because she laughed.

"It's fine, it's fine," she said over fits of laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked. I wanted in on the joke too. It must have been really good, because she was laughing harder than I'd ever seen.

"It's just," she was trying to sober up. "Here's the Dragonborn, killing dragons and bandits with ease, yet she refuses to eat her vegetables!" She laughed harder.

I laughed in spite of myself and finished with my armor.

"They're nasty," I defended meekly.

Lydia kept giggling to herself.

* * *

We left Valtheim at quarter to nine. The going was a lot more fun, now that Lydia and I had warmed up to each other. I learned a lot about her during this trip. Her favorite color was blue because it reminded her of her father's eyes. She used to live on a farm by Rorikstead (wherever that was) with her family. She told me that she actually hadn't been in many fights in her life. Only a few bandit raids and small skirmishes. I was surprised. She seemed pretty good.

I tried to tell her as much as I could. I was a low level, so I didn't really have much to tell. I did describe dragons to her. She told me that she wanted to see a dragon. I told her she didn't.

We took out wolves and skeevers throughout this time. We even met a person in black robes who was on his way to some shrine in the mountains. I wasn't really sure what the shrine was about, but he made it sound important. He marked it on my map, and I told Lydia that we'd go there some time.

I was really enjoying the down time. It finally felt like I wasn't about to die every two seconds. The wolves were very non threatening, and were actually kind of fun to hunt. I saw amazing waterfalls, old forts, and old ruins, not to mention the beautiful trees and nature.

"This is so cool," I mentioned to Lydia.

"Yeah, it's really something," she agreed. I wondered if the beauty still amazed her after she's been here so long.

I asked her, and she said it kind of loses it's appeal after you've been here for years. She said she's gotten homesick. I asked her what her real life was like, but she couldn't answer me. She said she had forgotten years ago. That made me sad. I didn't want to forget my real life, but unfortunately, I could already feel it happening. I was beginning to forget the name of my school, and my classmates, and even what classes I had been taking. It all escaped my memory. I still knew my real name. I wanted to know if Lydia was her real name, but I didn't want to make her sad if it wasn't and she couldn't remember her real name. It would be really scary to forget your own name.

At about ten o'clock, we passed an Imperial soldier escorting two nobles.

"Come along," the Imperial seemed impatient. "No more stops. We need to find our way to Solitude."

I had heard Hadvar mention Solitude. I had no idea where it was, but I did remember that it's home to the Legion. I wondered what these people were up to.

"Why are we even going to a wedding at this far flung end of the Empire anyway?" Asked the woman dressed in fine clothes and jewels.

The man, probably her husband, was dressed in the same manner. He answered her irritably, "I told you. It's the wedding of Vittoria Vici, an extremely well connected merchant with the East Empire Company. The emperor's cousin? Remember? Hopefully these gifts will put us in good graces…"

We passed them and could no longer hear their conversation. Anyone less honorable than ourselves would have robbed them blind. They only had one guard, and they obviously had a boat load of treasure on them. I didn't think they'd make it to Solitude.

I kept this to myself and continued on in silence with Lydia. We made it to another intersection and headed up a hill. I killed a wolf that was hiding in a patch of flowers. I went to fetch my arrow and got distracted by the flowers. They were beautiful. They were a deep purple with black stems and an attractive yellowish orange center. The flowers had six petals and grew in a bush. It was lovely, so I picked it.

I offered it to Lydia as a test. I wanted to see if she'd accept it. When I offered, she held out her hand for it, but I didn't give it to her.

"Ah, you fail," I teased.

"What?" She was confused.

"This beautiful flower is possibly the most deadly plant known to man," I told her. "Nightshade."

It was obvious the plant was nightshade. We had these in the real world. Even in here, they looked exactly the same.

"Oh, I've heard of nightshade poison," Lydia said.

"Hmm…" I wondered if I could make them in a potion. I would have to try some time.

We kept on. We crossed a bridge, and I just had to stop and stare. The bridge overlooked a set of three tiered waterfalls: three at the top, one thick one in the middle, and the largest on the bottom, all flowing into a lake.

"Wow," Lydia said.

I nodded. Skyrim had something beautiful and dangerous at every turn.

* * *

An hour later found me popping my ears.

"We're getting pretty high up," I commented.

"Ivarstead isn't far," Lydia said. I didn't see what that had to do with anything really. It must have a higher elevation than Whiterun's plains.

The road had gone up steadily for about an hour. We saw more and more goats and wolves. Pine trees were becoming scarcer, and soon all the trees were golden birch trees. All the plants were different too. Lydia showed me some canis root, which apparently makes good tea. I took a sample of that, determined to make it into some cool potions instead of nasty old tea.

[Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People]

Lydia and I were finally reaching the top of the hill, when we spotted an overturned cart and supplies laying scattered across the road. We exchanged looks and went to investigate.

Amidst all the wreckage, there was an Imperial man sitting. He looked like he was in pain.

As I approached, he asked, "Are they gone?"

"Yeah, are you alright?" I kneeled down by him.

"Bandits attacked and ransacked my cart," he explained helplessly. "Can you help me?"

"Of course," I guaranteed. "What can we do?"

"My camp is nearby in the ruins of Nilheim. Get me there safely, and you'll be rewarded."

"Okay, can you stand?" I asked.

He got up without my help. He seemed remarkably uninjured. I was a bit surprised by this, but I figured he was just scared that the bandits would come back. That's probably why he wanted the escort.

We began to cross another bridge that had been behind him and he said, "It's just across the bridge and up that hill."

That was a really short distance, I thought. I was getting wary.

"We're close now," he said about halfway across. "I can see the camp."

I was getting more and more uneasy with every step. If his camp was only a stone throws away, why would he need help? He could have just shouted for his buddies to help him. My gut was telling me to get the heck out of there. I didn't listen, though. This might just be a person in need.

We made it up the small slope at the end of the bridge.

"Wait here. I'll be back with your reward," the man walked away.

That did it. I drew my bow and Lydia got her sword. The man got his friends and they ran at us with their weapons drawn. They were bandits! I should have trusted my gut.

I fired an arrow at the man, while Lydia took on three of his buddies. The arrow stuck the man, who was using a bow too, and he staggered. I launched a few more, but then couldn't get an opening, as he hid behind some trees. I hissed in frustration and changed targets to one of Lydia's attackers. She had felled one, and I shot one of the others in the neck. He died. Lydia ran the last one through.

The man with the bow saw this, and fell back to the tower ruins. We chased after him and found him and two other bandits. I shot one bandit in the chest, and Lydia ran in and blocked my view before I could get another shot.

"Hey, Lydia! Get out of the way!" I hollered.

She didn't listen and kept on slashing the back guys up. I mumbled some curse words and just watched with an arrow at the ready in case I found an opening.

Lydia killed one, then the other, but the main guy stuck her with an arrow to the shoulder, and she went down. There was my opening. I shot an arrow over Lydia's head, and it got lodged in the guy's head. He made a gurgled noise and fell over backwards. He choked a few times on his own blood, then died.

"Lydia? What the Hell?" I grabbed her good arm and heaved her up.

"What?" She asked.

"You totally jumped in front of my shot. I could have shot you!" I almost yelled.

She yanked the arrow out of her shoulder and gave it a once over. It didn't look too deep.

"I thought I could get them," she defended.

"Next time, just don't get in the way of my shot," I said quieter.

Lydia didn't say anything, and I helped her bandage her wound.

"At least it wasn't your sword arm," I commented.

She nodded.

The camp offered a little bit of gold and a potion for supplies. However, it did look like the bandits had been making lunch when we walked up. They had the table set with a bit of food that Lydia and I helped ourselves to.

It was almost one when we got back on the road. The birch forest got denser and denser the farther we got. It was pretty, but I had to say I liked the plains of Whiterun better. You could see for miles out there. All these trees meant a lot of cover for bad guys to creep behind. I told this to Lydia, and she agreed. She had spent her whole life in the plains, so she wasn't used to close quarters fighting like this. I could tell.

Not much later, we stumbled across a tent by the side of the road. I went to investigate because I couldn't help myself.

The place was abandoned, which was strange. A tent was up, a fire had been lit, and bottles of mead were out. Where was everybody?

I found a note atop a barrel.

 _Go to the island near the edge of the lake. Look for where a great tree once stood. that is where I buried it._

That was it. I looked up. There was a lake just down the hill from me. I noticed an island. That could very well be the place they were talking about.

I gestured to Lydia, and we headed down the hill. At the water's edge, I could see two goons in civilian clothes digging. There as a giant tree stump near them. I was going to walk up to them and see what they were doing, but they pulled out daggers and crossed the water before I could.

It was obvious they meant us harm, so I fired two arrows a piece and killed them both before they got to shore. Then, Lydia and I swam across to the island and looked where they had been digging.

There was a chest halfway uncovered from the dirt. Lydia and I quickly dug it out and opened it. All that was in it was a meager amount of gold. I was disappointed, but we took the coins anyway, obviously.

We swam back to the camp we were at before and then back to the road.

We crossed a bridge over a stream when I heard a weird noise. It sounded like a mix between chiming and moaning. It was incredibly strange, not made by anything living. I investigated and found the culprit underneath the bridge. It was a plant. The plant kind of looked like a weird spiky romaine lettuce. The only difference was it was glowing and emitting the strange sound. It was really annoying. I picked it, and the noise stopped.

"Maybe it'll be a good alchemy ingredient," I told Lydia.

She shrugged. "I know it's called nirnroot, but what it's used for, I don't know."

"Well, I'll find out."

I put it in my satchel next to my canis root and nightshade.

We kept walking, and I was getting a little sick of all this traveling.

"How much further?" I asked her.

"Not far at all," she replied.

Of course we couldn't have a moment of peace. We spotted two warriors battling a giant spider along the path. Unfortunately, the spider killed one of the men before I could finish it with my bow. He didn't say anything to us as we went our own way.

We rounded a corner and finally gazed upon the city of Ivarstead.

"Ugh, finally," I grunted. I marched into the city with Lydia giggling behind me.

I took off my iron helmet and wiped my face as we walked into the small village. I was even smaller than Riverwood. It had an inn, Vilemyr, and a lumber mill. That's about it.

We passed a few guards talking outside the inn.

"The Greybeards have summoned the Dragonborn to High Hrothgar. Such a thing has not happened for… hundreds of years," one said.

I was glad they didn't know I was the Dragonborn. I didn't want any publicity. I just wanted to get up the mountain as fast as possible.

Lydia and I meandered through town and found the path to High Hrothgar. It was just across a bridge. We stopped for a minute by the bridge to have a short rest. It was a bit after two in the afternoon. We had been walking all day. I didn't know if I had it in me to climb a mountain. Lydia seemed alright.

There were two men talking on the bridge. I eavesdropped on their conversation.

The elf said to the Nord, "On your way up the Seven Thousand Steps again, Klimmek?"

The man, Klimmek, replied, "Not today. I'm just not ready to make the climb to High Hrothgar. The path isn't safe."

Oh, lovely, of course the path isn't safe. Talos forbid this ever be easy.

"Aren't the Greybeards expecting some supplies?" The elf asked Klimmek.

"Honestly," he said, "I'm not certain. I've yet to be allowed into the monastery. Perhaps one day."

They parted ways. I got to my feet and addressed Klimmek. I knew he'd know what I'd face up there.

"Hey, I'm heading up to High Hrothgar. Is there anything I should expect?"

Klimmek seemed happy to tell me what he knew. "Well, there's the occasional wolf pack or stray, but that's all I've ever had to deal with. Shouldn't be a problem for the likes of you." He looked me up and down, making me uncomfortable. "Other than that, watch your footing. In these wintry conditions, the stairs can be treacherous."

"Thanks," I said. "So, what kind of deliveries do you make?"

"Mostly food supplies like dried fish and salted meats; you know, things that keep fresh for a long time. The Greybeards tend not to get out much, if you catch my meaning," he said.

"Listen, I'm going up there. I could make your delivery for you, if you want," I offered.

He perked up. "Really? That would be kind of you. Here, take this bag of supplies." He passed me the bag that was slung over his shoulder. I didn't quite understand why he had it with him, but I didn't ask. Maybe he had been packing it. "At the top of the steps you'll see the offering chest. Just leave the bag inside and you're done," Klimmek explained.

"Alright, take care now," I bid and slung the pack over my shoulder.

Lydia got to her feet after lacing her boots, and we crossed the looked at the steps leading up the mountain.

"Well," I decided. "Here goes nothing."

* * *

At first, I had told Lydia that I would count every step to make sure there were seven thousand of them. I gave up after twenty.

The rough and ancient stone stairs were carved into the mountain in an age long forgotten. They winded all the way up to the monastery. From Whiterun, the mountain hadn't seemed that large. Now that we were climbing it, it seemed larger than life.

Early on, we found a hunter praying at a stone tablet. His name was Barknar, and he said to watch out for wolves. He also said that he heard the summons of the Greybeards. He didn't know I was Dragonborn, and that pleased me.

Before Lyda and I continued, I read the stone tablet.

 **Before the birth of men, the Dragons ruled all Mundus; Their word was the Voice, and they spoke only for True Needs; For the Voice could blot out the sky and flood the land**

We walked on as I thought about the engraving. So dragons had once ruled the earth? Dragons speak in Shouts, so that explains why the word for my Shout was in a different language. The script on the word wall back in Bleak Falls must have been dragon writing. Apparently, the Voice had enough power to destroy the world. Maybe I should be more careful in my use of Shouts.

I thought on this until it began to snow.

"Ugh, I hate snow," I grumbled to Lydia.

"Why?"

"It's cold, and then people can track you easier," I said, gesturing to our footprints on the steps.

"I see your point," Lydia replied.

We made it to a second tablet. This one read:

 **Men were born and spread over the face of Mundus; The Dragons presided over the crawling masses; Men were weak then, and had no Voice.**

So men didn't always have the ability. I hadn't known that dragons had once ruled over all the people. I didn't know if that would have been a good thing or not.

Lydia didn't seem to care very much about the tablets. She didn't read them, nor seem to have an interest in reading them. I wondered if she could read. She had a pretty hard life, so I didn't know what to really expect. I didn't say anything about it, though.

"I think I have a rock in my boot," I said.

Lydia only laughed.

The snow grew from a light dusting on the steps, to about ankle deep. The pine trees were tastefully frosty, and I felt like I was in a Christmas card, all except for the wolf attack.

A wolf had suddenly launched out from under a tree and clamped down on my right arm. I screamed. He shook my arm like a dog chews a toy. I punched him in the snout with my left arm frantically to get him off. Lydia was cursing and hitting the beast with her sword. She finally killed it with a strike to the head.

"Dammit," Lydia cursed under her breath.

I sat down heavily on the stairs and examined the wound. It hurt worse than any other wolf bite I had gotten. My entire forearm was chewed up like ground beef. My armor had done nothing to protect me from the wolf's powerful jaws.

"That was an ice wolf," Lydia told me as she examined its corpse. "You can tell because of the whitish tinge to his fur."

"That explains why he was stronger," I muttered. I healed the wound with magic, but something was wrong. It still hurt. My wrist on my injured arm had locked and wouldn't move. I panicked but tried to pretend nothing was wrong. I could still move my arm and my fingers for the time being, so no one would have to know. I could still fire a bow.

We continued up the steps, and Lydia noticed that when we would scale some difficult parts, I would favor my left arm.

"Does it hurt?" she asked me.

"What?" I pretended like I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Your arm," she gestured. "You're not using it."

"Uh yeah," I gave in. "It hurts a bit."

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, my wrist is locked."

"You have rockjoint," Lydia diagnosed. "Do you have a potion of cure disease?"

"No."

"Then it will only get worse."

"Yay," I said sarcastically.

* * *

We saw a wolf by the third tablet. I killed it easily with a single arrow. I was glad it wasn't an ice wolf.

The third tablet said:

 **The fledgling spirits of Men were strong in Old Times; Unafraid to war with Dragons and their Voices; But the Dragons only Shouted them down and broke their hearts**

I felt bad for the men of old. It must suck to have all powerful overlord dragons telling you what to do all the time.

Lydia and I climbed higher up the mountain, and soon the snow was knee deep. We could no longer see the city of Ivarstead below. Now, only the tops of other mountain peaks surrounded us.

"My feet hurt," I complained.

"Should we stop?" Lydia asked.

"No, no," I dismissed, though I could feel rocks in my boots.

Tablet four wasn't far away.

 **Kyne called on Paarthurnax, who pitied Man; Together they taught Men to use the Voice; The Dragon War raged, Dragon against Tongue**

I assumed that Kyne was an ancient Nord hero, and Paarthurnax must have been a dragon. I was amazed that a dragon could have a heart and teach the Voice to a man.

We took a right turn from the tablet and headed up a straight staircase. It was weird to see just a straight set, because all the stairs so far had been winding and curved.

We reached the top of the stairs and were gazing through a rocky gorge. Sharp grey stone walls made the path narrow and dangerous looking. I was hesitant to go through.

"Stay low," I warned Lydia. "This looks like a dangerous place."

I drew my bow and crouched. We slowly snuck through the gorge. It was really quiet; Only the wind could be heard. This seemed like the perfect place for a pack of wolves to attack.

We rounded a corner, and I was terrified by what I saw. A yeti stood atop the cliff face, glaring down at us with three black eyes. His white fur was mangy and tangled, his fangs jut out of his mouth in disturbing angles, and his arms hung down past his knees. His hands alone were about the size of garbage can lids.

He roared in fury when he saw us. He threw his arms in the air and shook them around like an ape. Then, he scaled down the cliff with ease.

"Holy shit!" I cursed. "Kill that thing!"

I launched arrows at him, but they didn't even slow him down when they stuck him. Lydia was firing too, and she was making just as much progress as me. Lydia got pissed and drew her sword instead. She ran into the fight with a savage war cry, but the thing was ready for her. It took one wild swipe, and set her careening into the cliff wall. She fell to the ground like a ragdoll and didn't move.

"Lydia!" I screamed.

The beast zeroed in on me and began stalking my way. I fired arrows, but I couldn't keep up. I could feel the rockjoint beginning to lock my fingers.

"Crap," I breathed as I watched the behemoth draw nearer.

I had to get past this thing. Fighting it wasn't even an option. Its wounds from my arrows were healing faster than I could shoot. I had to grab Lydia and get the - (insert swear word of your choice) out of here.

I hatched a crazy, stupid plan. I threw my bow on my back and drew the beast farther back towards the stairs we came up on. It was a good thing the yeti was pretty brainless.

Once my foot struck the end of the top step, I dove under the yeti's arms and was behind it. The beast quickly turned around, but I was way ahead of him.

" _FUS!"_

I called on the power of the Voice to save my sorry ass. The sasquatch staggered back, but didn't fall down the steps like I had wanted. I cursed again, and did something even more stupid. I full on ran into the yeti and dug my shoulder of my bad arm into his chest. He did not expect that and went reeling down the stairs. He fell all the way to the next landing and slowly began to get to his feet. That could buy me enough time.

I fled back to Lydia and was happy to see she was getting to her feet. She had a nice gash on her forehead, but nothing too serious.

We bolted away from the bigfoot's lair and further up the steps. We stopped to catch our breath at the fifth tablet.

"You are the only person I know who has full on body slammed a frost troll," Lydia half-chuckled through her fits of heavy breathing.

Oh, they called it a frost troll. Those things are nasty. I was really mad that I had finally faced an enemy I could not beat. It was frustrating to lose to a beast. I vowed to come back and finish the bastard off one day.

I read the fifth tablet that said:

 **Man prevailed, shouting Alduin out of the world; Proving for all that their Voice too was strong; Although their sacrifices were many-fold**

I had to stop and read that one twice. Alduin?! They defeated Alduin?! If they defeated Alduin then, why was he here now, trying to kill us all?

I explained my conundrum to Lydia, but she had no answers. She told me that the Greybeards would know.

At five o'clock, we broke the tree line. It was bitterly cold and windy up here. I had no idea how some old people could live up on this mountain. I had found the sixth, seventh, and eighth tablets.

 **With roaring Tongues, the Sky-Children conquer; Founding the First Empire with sword and Voice; Whilst the Dragons withdrew from this World**

 **The Tongues at Red Mountain went away humbled; Jurgen Windcaller began His Seven Year Meditation; To understand how Strong Voices could fail**

 **Jurgen Windcaller chose silence and returned; The 17 disputants could not shout Him down; Jurgen the Calm built His home on the Throat of the World**

I didn't really know what to think about these tablets. I didn't really understand them. I had no idea who Jurgen Windcaller was, nor the Red Mountain.

We rounded a corner and came suddenly face to face with a great stone fortress. High Hrothgar stood proud and mighty on the mountain.

The ninth tablet stood just under a statue of a Nord killing a dragon or snake thing.

 **For years all silent, the Greybeards spoke one name; Tiber Septim, stripling then, was summoned to Hrothgar; They blessed and named him Dovahkiin**

What does Tiber Septim have that I didn't? I was determined to be the best Dovahkiin ever. I was pretty sure that meant Dragonborn.

I located the last tablet near the steps up to High Hrothgar.

 **The Voice is worship; Follow the Inner Path; Speak Only in True Need**

I didn't understand that one at all. Worship? What inner path? How am I supposed to know when I have true need of the Voice? My head began to hurt.

I marched up the steps to High Hrothgar and dumped Klimmek's supplies in the large offering chest he mentioned.

"I've never heard of anyone seeing the inside of High Hrothgar," Lydia said. "It is an honor to go in."

I nodded. "Are you ready?"

She responded, "It's not a question if I'm ready. Are _you_ ready?"

"I'm ready to get these damn rocks out of my boots," I grumbled.

Lydia laughed and said, "Seven hundred and forty eight."

"What?" I asked.

"There are seven hundred and forty eight steps. I counted them all."

I looked at her in awe. "You counted them all?"

"Yes," she simply said.

"Well, who the hell named it the Seven Thousand Steps then?" I complained.

We laughed and entered the monastery.


End file.
